Advancing health systems in the Asia Pacific
What is the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies?
The Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (APO) is a WHO-hosted bi-regional partnership working across the WHO’s South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions.
Established in 2011, APO is a collaborative initiative that partners with governments, multilateral agencies, academia and policy institutes to produce and share evidence that informs policy decisions and strengthens health systems across the Asia Pacific region.
Through co-production between researchers and policymakers, APO ensures that its work responds to country priorities and contributes to stronger, more resilient and equitable health systems in the region.
What are APO’s values?
APO’s work is guided by the following core values:
- Partnership through co-production - Collaborative work between policymakers and researchers to ensure relevance to country needs.
- Building HPSR capacity - Integration of capacity strengthening across all APO activities to support both the generation and use of evidence for policymaking.
- High standards of research, analysis and application - Commitment to high standards to ensure all outputs are credible, reliable and of high quality.
- Independence - Maintenance of independence in all work, ensuring freedom from conflicts of interest.
- Probity and integrity - Conduct of all activities with accountability, transparency and integrity.
What are APO’s values?
APO operates through a structured governance framework to ensure strategic direction, technical rigor and
accountability.
- Our Board Members provide overall strategic guidance and oversight.
- Our Secretariat manages implementation of APO’s programme of work.
- Our Internal Panel Review (IRP) provides technical advice and quality assurance.
- Our Partners collaborate in generating evidence across thematic areas.
Our governance
What is APO focusing on until 2030?
APO facilitates knowledge generation, management and brokering through cross-cutting activities.
- Generating Knowledge - APO supports the production of timely and relevant health policy research—including HiT Publications, Policy Briefs, Comparative Country Studies and commissioned research—to foster shared learning across countries.
- Managing Knowledge - APO helps policymakers and partners access, organize and engage with the latest HPSR evidence and connects them with leading researchers and research institutions across the region.
- Brokering Knowledge - Through policy dialogues, webinars, HPSR events and targeted communications, APO translates HPSR into actionable insights that inform health policy across diverse contexts.
How will APO work towards 2030?
APO’s cross-cutting activities aim to strengthen research, capacity-building and knowledge-sharing.
- Analyze the current state of health systems, identifying their challenges and opportunities.
- Generate knowledge about effective contemporary health policy strategies to facilitate cross-national learning.
- Facilitate transmission of policy developments and support its translation to local contexts
- Build local capacity for evidence informed decision-making and Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR).
