ASEAN has shown commitment and effort to urge its member states to work collectively to combat Covid-19 through various measures. Despite challenges, experiences from 2020 highlight good practices of ASEAN in response to the virus. There remain some lessons learned for ASEAN improvement, such as a need for multi-sector and multi-stakeholder partnerships and collaboration across borders to address the pandemic and a need for ASEAN as a whole, to continue providing mutual support, capacity building and resource sharing within the region. This paper also highlights the important roles of Parliaments in times of health crisis. They need to continue their core functions in terms of legislating, representing and overseeing the emergency health programs of governments to ensure the interventions are efficient and cost-effective to strengthen citizen’s health.
Health Sector Responses and Parliament’s Roles in ASEAN: Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020