About us
Overview
The Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (the APO) is a collaborative partnership of interested governments, international agencies, foundations, and researchers that promotes evidence-informed health system policy regionally and in all countries in the Asia Pacific region.
The APO:
- Collaboratively identifies priority health system issues across the Asia Pacific region;
- Develops and synthesizes relevant research to support and inform countries’ evidence-based policy development; and
- Builds country and regional health systems research and evidence-informed policy capacity.
Function
The APO’s main functions are to:
- Establish a body of knowledge and evidence on health systems in the Asia Pacific region, comparable across countries, through collection and analysis of information and research evidence on health care policies and reforms
- Engage in in-country dialogue with key stakeholders, including government, development partners, civil society and academia, to facilitate a shared assessment of each health system's strengths and weaknesses that builds consensus on needed policy directions and helps develop evidence informed health policies within countries
- Develop and strengthen national and regional capacity in research, analysis and knowledge translation
Key Products and Practices
Launched in 2011 and hosted by WHO, the APO is very active in country policy development and producing regional public goods. Following are the APO’s key products and practices:
- Health System in Transition reviews (HiT)
- COVID-19 Health Systems Response Monitor
- Policy Briefs
- Comparative Country Studies
- Journal Publications
- HiT Policy Notes
- Policy dialogue and other events - Policy dialogue events communicate the evidence to policy-makers and aim to influence decision-making by presenting the best available evidence on a particular issue.