ASEAN agrees to promote health

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A meeting of health ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ended here on Saturday with a Healthy ASEAN 2000 declaration, which promises to strengthen health cooperation between member states.

Indonesian Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi, who was the chairman of the meeting, the fifth of ASEAN health ministers, said: "We envision that by 2020 health shall be at the center of development."

The two-day meeting reviewed past cooperation and plans for future collaboration in health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS programs and technical cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector.

The ministers also agreed to hold annual meetings.

One of the primary concerns during the meeting was the spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, which causes AIDS. No less than six million people in the region have been infected with HIV/AIDS, and an estimated 700,000 youths are infected each year. (08)