November 26, 2019, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sarayut Supapannachart, MD., Acting Vice President for Administration of Mahidol University, on behalf of Prof. Dr. Banchong Mahaisavariya, MD. signed the MOU between Mahidol University and the International Labour Organization (ILO) represented by Ms. Valérie Schmitt, Director ad interim, Social Protection Department of International Labour Organization. Asst. Prof. Dr. Phudit Tejativaddhana, the Director of ASEAN Institute for Health Development (AIHD) and Ms. Marielle Phe Goursat, Chief Technical Adviser – ILO-Lux Social Health Protection Programme in Vietnam, Lao PDR, and Myanmar together with experts and policy makers from around the world witnessed the MOU signing ceremony. This MOU aims to strengthen the capacity of countries in Asia and the Pacific to develop and implement strong, sustainable and comprehensive policies, strategies and systems for Social Health Protection, as a contribution to the achievement of Universal Social Protection and Universal Health Coverage as well as to the achievement of SDG 1.3.
The key areas of collaboration are to establish the special track on Social Health Protection under the Master Program of Primary Health Care Management Program (MPHM) of ASEAN Institute for Health Development (AIHD), Mahidol University and to facilitate the Regional Technical Facility on Social Health Protection (or called “Connect for Social Health Protection Association for the Asia-Pacific Region”) of which the founding members include organizations in South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and ILO.