Partnerships for a Healthy Region

Feedback for applications for Product Development and Access Partnerships and Regional Health Partnership under the Partnerships for a Healthy Region initiative is available here.

Partnerships for a Healthy Region is part of Australia’s continued investment in the health of our region and is an important contribution to the Pacific and Southeast Asia’s recovery from COVID-19.

The initiative will help build resilient and equitable health systems in the Pacific and Southeast Asia, supporting partner countries to reduce disease risks, burdens and respond effectively to health emergencies.

The pandemic’s impacts on health service delivery – including routine immunisation and sexual and reproductive health services – have been severe. In many cases progress in the fight against communicable and non-communicable diseases has been reversed. At the same time, there are opportunities to build on investments made during the acute phase of the pandemic.

Partnerships for a Healthy Region builds and expands on the preceding five-year Indo-Pacific Health Security Initiative (HSI, 2017-2022). It includes an expanded scope, continuing a focus on communicable diseases while also encompassing non-communicable diseases, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and strengthening of health system functions.

The initiative will be implemented in the Pacific and Southeast Asia and will be delivered in partnership with a range of development partners including Australian government agencies, multilateral and regional bodies, product development partnerships, and leading health institutions from Australia and the region.

Investments under Partnerships for a Healthy Region will contribute to the following outcomes:

Communicable disease prevention and control: Partner countries have improved ability to anticipate, prevent, detect and control communicable disease threats.
Non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention and control: Partner countries supported to better prevent and control non-communicable diseases.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR): Partner countries supported to advance inclusive sexual and reproductive health and rights, particularly for women and girls.
Resilient health systems: Partner countries have improved capabilities, resources, regulatory mechanisms and systems to meet their country’s health needs.
Effective partnerships and delivery: Australia’s regional health assistance is valued, flexible, responsive and projects Australian expertise into the Indo-Pacific region.

Cross-cutting priorities of the Initiative will include gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI), One Health, climate and environmental change, and community engagement. The Initiative will also support projects which reflect and embed Australia’s approach to First Nations engagement.

Partnerships for a Healthy Region is informed by lessons learnt from the Health Security Initiative (2017-2022), and other DFAT health investments including the Vaccine Access and Regional Health Security Initiative (VAHSI). Feedback from over 100 consultations with stakeholders and partners in Australia and governments across the region has also helped to shape the design of the Initiative (Download the consultation summary Word, 123KB, PDF 229KB).

Regional Health Partnership (strategic partnerships and projects) and Product Development and Access Partnerships will be awarded through competitive processes and will focus on supporting communicable and non-communicable disease control, and the development and adoption of new vaccines, drugs, diagnostics and mosquito-control technologies relevant for the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

The Partnerships for a Healthy Region (PHR) initiative Strategic Investment Framework (SIF) provides a high-level overview of the PHR initiative. As the overarching design document for the initiative, the SIF outlines a structure to support the operationalisation of PHR programming through multiple pathways, across a large portfolio. Read more here.

Monitoring, evaluation and learning resources can be found here.

Media releases announcing partnerships and activities under the PHR include:

Themes

Cross-cutting themes