Strengthen Women’s Health through Innovative Financing

APEC economies are stepping up efforts to close the women’s health financing gap through stronger cross-sector collaboration, following the APEC Smart Families Workshop on Innovative Financing for Women’s Health held recently in Incheon.

The workshop brought together leaders from finance and health ministries, development banks, and the private sector, marking the first coordinated engagement of Finance, Health, and Women’s Affairs ministries under this initiative to advance sustainable and inclusive health financing. Hosted by the Ministry of Health of Peru and co-sponsored by Chile, Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam, the workshop focused on closing the financing gap for women’s health as a foundation for resilient and inclusive growth.

The workshop also served as a platform to shape the upcoming APEC Innovative Financing Framework for Women’s Health, a roadmap aimed at helping economies translate financial innovation into tangible improvements in women’s health.

Dr Carlos Vela, the Chair of the APEC Health Working Group and Executive Director of the Coordination Secretariat of the National Health Council of the Ministry of Health for Peru highlighted the importance of stronger coordination across sectors to ensure sustainable and inclusive health financing models that benefit women and communities across the region.

“By fostering collaboration between the health and finance sectors, this workshop represents the kind of cross-cutting approach that will drive tangible impact for communities across our region.” said Dr Vela.

Building on these discussions, participants emphasized the need for stronger coordination between fiscal and health authorities to ensure that budgeting, insurance mechanisms and targeted subsidies are effectively aligned with national demographic and economic objectives.

Economies also shared experiences on leveraging private capital and development finance institutions to scale investments that improve access to maternal and women’s health services, particularly in underserved and remote areas.

Dr Bunyarit Sukrat, Co-Chair of the APEC Health Working Group and also the Director of the Division of Health Economics and Health Security at Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health and, emphasized that the initiative reflects APEC’s commitment to advancing responsive health systems and ensuring that financial innovation translates into access to care for women across the region.

“Thailand is honored to co-lead this important initiative within APEC to strengthen innovative financing for women’s health,” said Dr Bunyarit. “Investing in women’s health is not only a moral imperative, it is a strategic investment in the economic resilience and shared prosperity of our region. We look forward to advancing this agenda in close collaboration with APEC member economies and partners,” he added.