Bambang Susantono, ADB Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, delivered his Opening Remarks at the Health Ministers Meeting on Universal Health Coverage on Asia and the Pacific, 14 September 2020. Read the full speech here.

Equitable ICT connectivity around the region remains a development bottleneck, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and its long-term effects, which has accelerated digitalization trends. It has become crucial for policy makers, development partners, and investors to review their strategies, fiscal space, and investment priorities.

8:00–9:00 a.m. (London time) | 3:00–4:00 p.m. (Manila time) | via Zoom

With more than half of 2020 spent under the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic already, proper hand hygiene has become mainstreamed, if not ingrained, into public consciousness. Access to and sustainability of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services are vital to protect human health.

The twelfth Policy Actions for COVID-19 Economic Recovery (PACER) Dialogue on “Adaptive control of COVID-19 outbreaks: Policy Approaches” featured implementation of the adaptive control paradigm and a modelling framework to reduce infection rates, consider vaccination policy, and gradually open economies.

Outdoor or ambient air pollution is a critical environmental problem causing millions of premature deaths in Asia. At the same time, indoor air pollution is a major challenge also causing millions of premature deaths. The nature of indoor air pollution varies from one region or one country to another depending on the climatic conditions, type of housing, socio-cultural background and others.