Vision: 

By 2020 all ASEAN citizens will lead healthy lifestyles consistent with their values, beliefs and culture in supportive environments. 
 
Mission Statement :
 
ASEAN Member Countries will continue to educate and empower their citizens to adopt healthy lifestyles and create an enabling environment that makes healthy lifestyle choices accessible, affordable and sustainable. 
 
ASEAN will continue to be a driving force for regional action in promoting healthy lifestyles.
 
Definition of Healthy Lifestyles:
 
Healthy lifestyles are behaviours and social practices conducive to good health that are adopted by individuals but reflect the values and identities of the groups and societies in which they live.  To enjoy healthy lifestyles, people require knowledge and skills combined with an environment that makes healthy choices possible throughout their lives.
 
Guiding Principles:
 
1.      Healthy ASEAN lifestyles refers to basic human functions and the patterns linking various activities of everyday living in the ASEAN context.  These activities include eating and drinking, physical activity, use of tobacco, alcohol and substance abuse, sexual behaviour, coping with stress, self-care (hygiene, relaxation and spiritual practice), working, caring for others, and the quality and safety of home, workplace and other built environments.
 
2.      Determinants of health strongly influence lifestyles.  These include individual behaviour and biology, economic, social, psychological, and physical environments, and access to healthcare.  Promoting healthy lifestyles involves enhancing individual responsibility and capability as well as enabling environments.
 
The ASEAN concept for promoting healthy lifestyles links priority areas for health promotion interventions; key target groups based on stages through the lifespan; key levels, sectors, settings and strategies for implementation.
 
Political commitment at the highest levels will strengthen multi-sectoral cooperation to address the health impact of development and to mobilize resources at the national, regional, and international levels to this end.
 
Efforts to promote healthy ASEAN lifestyles should draw on the best evidence-based practices as appropriate to the social, cultural and economic situation.
 
Individuals, families, communities and citizen organisations as well as the private sector and trans-national organisations are key partners with national and local governments in promoting healthy lifestyles.
 
Partnerships with the ASEAN Dialogue Partners, international agencies, the private sector, academic institutions, media organisations, and civil society will strengthen the organisational machinery of ASEAN to implement joint activities to promote healthy lifestyles.
 
Special consideration shall be given to addressing healthy lifestyle issues in vulnerable populations such as mobile populations, youth, the elderly, for example. 
 
Strategies:
 
To strengthen ASEAN cooperation among Member Countries to promote healthy ASEAN lifestyles by:

• providing a forum for high-level policy dialogues;
• developing regional strategies; and 
• expanding networks and opportunities to exchange expertise and lessons learned.

To strengthen the national and collective ASEAN capacity for research and policy development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation by:

• introducing innovative approaches to leveraging and mobilising funding and resources for country and region-wide programmes;
• creating programmes and partnerships that build the technical and advocacy capacity of officers responsible for promoting healthy ASEAN lifestyles; and
• accessing increased technical assistance in priority areas influencing lifestyles to benefit ASEAN Member Countries.

To enhance awareness and develop health literacy among ASEAN peoples about healthy lifestyles by:

• introducing joint initiatives with the ASEAN media/broadcasting industry to mobilise ASEAN peoples to enhance knowledge, skills and environments required for healthy lifestyles; and
• strengthening the contribution of health services, schools and workplaces to educate on healthy behaviours.

To work together to build supportive environments and  opportunities for healthy lifestyles choices by:

• strengthening policy processes to secure short and long term investments that improve living and working conditions and resources for healthy ASEAN lifestyles;
• establishing multi-sector engagement to secure the determinants of healthy lifestyles in ASEAN Member Countries; and
• establishing dialogues between ASEAN national governments, non-government organisations and citizen groups to identify priority areas and opportunities for action on ASEAN lifestyles.

{*}Priority Health Issues
 
Demographic transition is occurring in all ASEAN Member Countries.  Urbanisation, industrialisation, migration, environmental change, socio-economic and political changes, and globalisation are having an impact on household formation, labour force participation, work environments, and consumption patterns that have an effect on lifestyles and health.  Societies must manage these changes to ensure that negative impacts, including risky health behaviour, are minimised and positive impacts are reinforced. 
 
Many ASEAN Member Countries are experiencing the double burden of disease, whereby before the traditional communicable diseases have been fully controlled, non-communicable diseases and newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases are increasing.  This requires all ASEAN Member Countries to be more proactive about addressing the emerging risk factors and health conditions while remaining vigilant about the persistent health problems of underdevelopment.
 
Recognizing the above challenges and considering on-going projects within ASEAN, the following are identified as priority areas:
 
            Accident and injury prevention
            Alcohol consumption
            Communicable diseases control (malaria, TB, HIV, ARI, CDD, etc.)     Environmental health
            Healthy ageing
            Mental health
            Non-communicable diseases prevention (diabetes, hypertension, cancer, CVD, and others)
            Nutrition
            Physical activity
            Substance abuse
            Tobacco control
            Women’s and children’s health
 
Programme of Work on Promoting Healthy ASEAN Lifestyles:
 
1.         Utilize the SOMHD and its existing Expert Groups/Working Groups and Task Force (Communicable Diseases, HIV/AIDS, Food Safety and Pharmaceuticals) to advance policy action on healthy ASEAN lifestyles and expedite implementation of current and pending projects related to healthy lifestyles and health promotion.
 
2.         Strengthen inter-sectoral links with ASEAN bodies whose work has an impact on health and lifestyle (such as Labour, Economic Cooperation, Culture and Information, for example), to ensure that these issues are considered.
 
3.         ASEAN Member Countries, in conjunction with appropriate partners, to take immediate actions in the following priority policy areas:
 
3.1       Tobacco control – to develop and implement national action consistent with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, as appropriate, for example, on smuggling, taxation, product advertising, distribution, sale, and agricultural production; 
 
3.2        Safe water and healthy food – to scale up their actions to secure access by all households, workplaces and public places to sanitation, safe water and healthy food (safe, balanced and nutritious);
 
3.3        Communicable diseases control – to strengthen national commitment on communicable diseases control and/or elimination, in ways appropriate to the epidemiological situation
 
3.4       Road safety/physical activity – to incorporate healthy lifestyles issues into public planning systems, especially with regard to transport and land use, safe transportation, provision for pedestrian and non-motorized traffic, considerations about noise, green space for physical activity, for example;
 
3.5       Health care services – to ensure that their heath system reforms are designed in a manner to provide universal access to promotive, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative services appropriate to each individual ASEAN Member Country;
 
3.6       Economic development, trade and lifestyles – to collaborate on developing policies related to the implications of trade in goods and services for lifestyles and health in the region.  An assessment of the health impact, including the impact on lifestyles, should be incorporated into the evaluation of all potential development projects; 
 
3.7              Mental health and lifestyles -  to collaborate on providing environments that promote social participation, minimize discrimination, and enhance economic opportunities;
 
3.8              Work settings and lifestyles – to adopt healthy worker and workplace initiatives.  This will require strengthened collaboration with the ASEAN Occupational Safety and Health Network (OSHNET); and   
 
3.9              Accidents and injury prevention – to adopt regulatory and behaviour change strategies to decrease accidents and injuries, e.g. road safety, consumer products safety, domestic violence, etc.
 
3.10          Healthy individual behaviours – to promote a way of living that includes personal hygiene, safer sexual behaviour, balanced diets, and avoidance of alcohol and substance abuse;
 
4.         Intensify collaboration with a wide variety of international partners, particularly through working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to:
 
4.1       Intensify policy dialogue with partners, particularly on their work programmes that are relevant to healthy lifestyles, and expand exchanges to foster learning.
 
4.2       Re-focus existing project proposals and negotiate new joint projects for implementation around the following priorities:
 
4.2.1        Health services

• To increase the capacity of health care services personnel to undertake effective health education and advocacy for social change in priority areas including nutrition, tobacco control, physical activity and personal and food hygiene; and
• To increase the accessibility of quality health services emphasising health promotion and disease prevention.

4.2.2        Healthy settings
 
        To strengthen the implementation of national and local policies and partnerships in support of health promoting settings: households, schools, workplaces, marketplaces, public transport/roads and recreational facilities.
 
4.2.3        Surveillance and research and development 
 
        To develop comprehensive regional surveillance of risk factors for priority health issues identified in this Action Plan; undertake analyses of social and environmental determinants of healthy lifestyles operating in an ASEAN context; and conduct research into investments for healthy public policy and the health of vulnerable groups.
 
4.2.4        Packages of priority interventions
 
        To compile evidence for comprehensive packages of priority interventions that represent the most cost-effective choices for healthy lifestyles.  Particular attention is given to the needs of countries relying on high levels of international aid.
 
4.2.5        Good practice models
 
        To evaluate and promote high quality healthy lifestyle models operating in the region that are related to health legislation and health promotion programs.
 
4.3       Initiate leadership development programs, such as an ASEAN Leadership for Prevention Program for key government and non-governmental bodies, built around needs which are relevant to the ASEAN Member Countries.
 
4.4       Work with the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information to train people from key sectors to work effectively with the media/broadcasting industry in order to mobilise community interest, and to train journalists to communicate effectively in the priority areas identified in this Action Plan.
 
5.         Present ASEAN position papers, research and case studies at key international meetings to promote exchange about healthy lifestyles and health promotion (for example, at the 2004 World Conference of the International Union of Health Promotion and Education).
 
Resource Mobilisation
 
1.                  Apply cost- and resource-sharing strategies to support regional initiatives and encourage ASEAN Member Countries with particular expertise to take lead roles in developing activities for priority areas.
 
2.         Further deepen and expand the mutually beneficial cooperation with WHO, in particular to collaborate in securing funding for operationalising the Regional Action Plan on Healthy ASEAN Lifestyles.
 
3.         Further deepen and expand cooperation with other partners: UN Bodies, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners  to generate project funding, scholarship programmes and other resource initiatives around priority areas.
 
4.         Share experiences on establishing sustainable funding systems such as health promotion foundations and explore the feasibility of utilising earmarked taxes on unhealthy products or services for promoting healthy lifestyles.
 
Implementation Arrangements
 
1.    The SOMHD will prepare an initial five-year programme of activities to operationalise this Action Plan, taking into account the following:

• Priority regional projects, especially those requiring inter-country cooperation or the formulation of ASEAN common positions;
• Use of existing mechanisms under the SOMHD to address Healthy ASEAN Lifestyles issues;
• Expediting implementation of relevant pending SOMHD projects;
• Establishment of stronger links between SOMHD and other ASEAN bodies so that the issues of health promotion could be addressed by the latter, where appropriate; and
• The need for a monitoring and evaluation mechanism.

2.         Intensify linkages and interactions between ASEAN and ASEAN Dialogue Partners, international organisations and other resourceful entities for technical expertise and/or funding.
 
3.         Strengthen relationships with ASEAN-affiliated health professional associations and initiate partnerships where appropriate with:

• Professional organisations (South West Pacific and South East Asia Regional Bureaux of the International Union of Health Promotion and Education, for example);
• Non-governmental Organisations;
• Centres of excellence and research (International Cochrane Health Promotion and Public Health Field; and WHO Collaborating Centres); and
• Transnational entities (the European Union, for example) around specific issues that affect lifestyles.