Sustain Accelerate Innovate - South-East Asia: flagship priority programmes driving impact in countries for the health of billions

Impact at country level lies at the heart of eight Flagship Priority Programmes that were identified in consultation with the Member States based on their needs, as I took over the office of Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region in 2014. These Flagship Priorities provide direction to Member States to invest resources effectively to achieve optimal health outcomes.

The WHO South-East Asia Region has made and continues to make rapid, inclusive and sustained progress on each of its eight Flagship Priority Programmes, which are aligned with the WHO Triple Billion targets and the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

This publication complies 11 success stories from countries in the Region, each pertaining to one of the eight Flagship Priorities. It includes stories on preventing and controlling noncommunicable diseases in Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Thailand; strengthening emergency risk management in Bangladesh, Nepal and Timor-Leste; accelerating efforts to end TB in Myanmar; role of traditional medicine in health care in DPR Korea; healthy city approach in Indonesia; innovative steps taken by Maldives to combat climate change; and accelerating reductions of maternal, neonatal and under-five mortality in India. It highlights an array of best practices and innovative approaches used at country level. Countries in the Region and across the world can learn from each other’s experience and find these innovations useful in their efforts to accelerate progress in each of these priority areas and more.