The Menzies Centre for Health Policy invites you to participate in a roundtable discussing Health Systems and Ageing in the Asia-Pacific Region: Challenges and Policy Options for the Future. The roundtable will take the form of a conversation among invited leaders and thinkers from Australian agencies, the private sector, researchers and academics who will explore the regional health policy trends & issues and policy lessons and implications.

A key contributor to the discussion will be special guest Professor Kai Hong Phua from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Professor Phua has published widely on comparative Asian health systems, and is currently leading the health systems component of a Rockefeller Foundation-funded project on Trends Monitoring in Asia and was co-lead author of the overview for the 2011 Lancet series on Health in Southeast Asia.

Health care for the ageing population has surfaced as a critical issue in many countries that have undergone rapid demographic and epidemiological transition. As chronic and degenerative health conditions are expected to intensify demand and expenditure for health care, it becomes necessary to plan for appropriate and cost-effective services for the increasing number and proportion of elderly persons. There is an urgent need to apply bold and innovative approaches to the organization and financing of health care against the pressures of increasing costs for rapidly ageing societies. Nevertheless what are the similarities and differences in the institutional capacities of countries to respond to these pressures and what consequences does this have for the (transnational & national) governance of healthcare arrangements to respond to ageing populations?

PLEASE NOTE PLACES ARE STRICTLY LIMITED