APACPH Executive Council Meeting @ Hotel Grand Sheraton, Incheon, South Korea

The Executive Council Meeting was held at the venue of the Hotel Grand Sheraton, Incheon, South Korea which is in the same city as the 49th APACPH Conference in Yonsei University’s International Campus in Incheon, South Korea. The meeting was chaired by the President of APACPH, Dr Sohn Myongsei from Institute for Global Engagement and Empowerment, Yonsei University. The President delivered his welcome address and President Message. It was then followed with the confirmation the Minutes of the ECM Meeting held on the 6th February 2017 at the same venue, i.e., Orchid Room, Sheraton Grand Incheon Hotel. The President continued with his overview of the current status of APACPH.

Dr Bruce Maycock presented his Secretary-General report and outlined the progress and future direction of APACPH. He presented the project with the GCRF Blue Communities which is a cooperative project between APACPH together with its member institutions and international partners. It was followed with Secretary Report by Dr Maznah Dahlui, which reported on the activities for the year. Among those activities was the APACPH Satelite Meetings, there were three approved meetings; the 1st APACPH Region Conference in Seoul, Korea organised by Korea Public Health Association on the 08 April 2017, the 1st APACPH Regional Conference in Thailand organised by Mahidol University on the 25th and 26th April 2017 and the 5th International Conference on Health Literacy and Population Health organised by the University of Malaya, which will be held from 12-14th November 2017.

The Treasurer report by Dr Hung-Yi Chiou the Honorary Treasurer reported a healthy bottom line for APACPH.

Each of the Regional Director presented the progress and performance of each region, they included Dr Maznah Dahlui the Malaysia Regional Director, Dr Indika Karunathilake the South Asia Regional Director, Dr Ya-Wen Betty Chiu the Taiwan Regional Director, Dr Masamine Jimba the Japan Regional Director, Dr Philip Baker the Australian Regional Director, Dr Elahe Nezami the United State of America Regional Director, Dr Agustin Kusumayati the Indonesia Regional Director, Dr Prayoon Fongsatitkul the Thailand Regional Director, and Dr Byung-Joo Park the Regional Director of Korea. Dr Liming Li was not able to present the report for China as he experienced a delay in his flight. Ms Nishi Himanshi presented on the activities of the Early Career Network.

Dr Low Wah Yun the Vice-President 1 and the Editor in Chief of the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health presented the achievement of the Journal over the past year. The new APACPH Constitution which replaces the current APACPH by-laws was also presented to the ECN members for discussion by Dr Suk Hee Tae from Yonsei University.

Dr Wonseok Sir presented the progress and update of the 49th APACPH Conference. The last presentation of the day on the 50th APACPH Conference was by Dr Zainal Arifin Mustapha the Dean of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) host. The 50th APACPH Conference will be held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

The were productive discussion over the various reports and suggestion was presented by the ECM to improve APACPH. The issues will be further presented to all the members of the Annual General Assembly on the 16 August 2017 for discussion.

Here are some highlights from the meeting, more pictures are available from the Gallery