Global Health Challenges in ASEAN Economic Community Era

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) requires high human migration from one country to another within Southeast-Asia region. AEC creates an atmosphere where people can meet together at the same time in the same place. At the same time, the world is struggling to combat the emerging infectious disease transmission across nations. Therefore, there will be a high risk of infectious disease transmission as the result of frequent human interaction. The medical tourism in AEC also plays important role as in transferring the ill and infected patient from one hospital to another hospital in another country. Standardization of the hospital within countries in South East Asia is vary from another, particularly in urban and remote areas. In addition to the quality health service assurance, health insurance system is another important issue in terms of universal health coverage. This is a descriptive study to explain the potential health problems as the consequence of AEC. In the context of AEC, there are some crucial gaps that could lead to a pandemic infectious disease. There should be a specialized committee in AEC responsible for health problems. Further advocacy is also considered mandatory in creating comprehensive and adequate health system and regulations.