Working with parliamentarians to improve health

Parliamentarians play an essential role in health by enacting legislation, approving budgets and mobilizing resources, providing oversight to ensure government accountability and transparency, encouraging multisectoral action, ensuring national implementation of global commitments, fostering the participation of constituencies, and engaging in international partnerships.

The Asia-Pacific Parliamentarian Forum on Global Health (“Forum”) is a platform for parliamentarians to exchange ideas, build political will, strengthen capacities and foster collaboration in driving sustainable action for health.  Established in 2015 by members of parliament from Australia, Cambodia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Malaysia, with support from WHO Western Pacific Regional Office and other partners, the Forum is open to the 30 countries comprising the Member States of the WHO Western Pacific Region and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The Forum embodies WHO’s support to Member States through a whole-of-government approach towards achieving health under the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) agenda by enhancing the rule of law in governance for health and expanding the role of law in the development, implementation and monitoring of health policy.