Cambodia Advocates AI and Digital Innovation at ASEAN-ROK Health Ministers Meeting

Cambodia Advocates AI and Digital Innovation at ASEAN-ROK Health Ministers Meeting At the 3rd ASEAN-Republic of Korea (ROK) Health Ministers Meeting held in Kuala Lumpur, Cambodia's Minister of Health, Professor Chheang Ra, strongly advocated for AI and digital innovation as paramount priorities in the healthcare sector. The meeting, convened on September 11, 2026, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, brought together representatives from all 11 ASEAN member states, the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN, and the Republic of Korea. Themed "Smarter Data, Better Care: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovations for a Connected ASEAN–Korea Healthcare Ecosystem," the discussions focused on leveraging technology for improved healthcare. Minister Chheang Ra welcomed the selection of AI and digital innovation as priority topics, underscoring their significance for ASEAN nations and highlighting the ROK as a global leader in this domain. He acknowledged that numerous challenges persist and that progress levels vary among ASEAN member states. The Minister then presented three key priorities for cooperation with the ROK that would yield significant value: 1. **Enhancing Digital Literacy:** Improving digital literacy among healthcare professionals and students to maximize the benefits of digital technologies and AI, and to promote secure information generation and management through these technologies. 2. **Preparing Healthcare Systems for AI:** Establishing healthcare systems to be ready for AI utilization at the grassroots level. Data should support the entire healthcare system, not just the institutions that generate it. This necessitates national-level data management covering the entire lifecycle from data creation to integration, connectivity, and utilization. 3. **Ensuring Data Convertibility:** Guaranteeing that patient medical histories can be transformed into understandable and usable information across the entire healthcare system, including across different healthcare institutions. A joint statement by the ASEAN-ROK Health Ministers was adopted, affirming a commitment to continuously enhance the resilience of ASEAN's health development in a new context. The statement emphasizes digital transformation in healthcare and outlines plans for future activities and projects through capacity-building programs, support for developing and implementing ASEAN's tailored health information plans, and the creation of strategies for digital health modernization.