ASEAN University Network – Health Promotion Network
Advocacy toward a healthy university: Since
establishment of AUN-HPN, the network has advocated for the health promotion concept. As
part of
our
efforts, the AUN Health University Framework (HUF) was developed (in 2017) and has become a
significant output of the network as it has been used as a powerful tool to advocate for a
healthy
university in the Asian region. Anecdotally, awareness on the importance of health promotion
and
appreciation in a critical role of higher education institutions in addressing public health
problems have been raised among AUN member universities. Many of our members have adopted
the
health
promotion concepts and implementing the HUF in their universities. We are
collecting
data
from our member universities on implementation progress toward HUF, including lessons
learned,
key success factors and barriers to the implementation. These data will be important
feedback to
the AUN-HPN Secretariat for the assessment on how well the HUF is being implemented and
if
it
has been implemented as expected. The collected data will also facilitate development of
programs and future planning to support member universities to efficiently and
effectively
implement the health promotion concept, and to further strengthen health promotion
capacity
of
member universities in the future.
Health promotion capacity building: Although health promotion is not a
new
concept but it is a discipline which is often neglected at higher education institutions. As
health
promotion by its nature applies a holistic and multi-sectoral approach, AUN-HPN has put
great
efforts to build up capacity of our member universities. They could then gain more knowledge
and
understanding in the health promotion concept. In the past couple of years, we focused on
health
promotion research and leadership. Therefore, we arranged two technical workshops to build
up
skills
and respond to our priority needs.
Knowledge and experience sharing: Knowledge and experience sharing is
considered
as a key component of networking activities. Therefore, AUN-HPN has been providing
opportunities
as
many as possible to our member universities for their knowledge and experience sharing.
Apart
from
learning from each other, AUN-HPN also invite regional and international experts to share
their
expertise with our members. We believe that knowledge and experience sharing among members
themselves and with the experts will broaden perspective in health promotion and lead to
more
innovative approaches and strategies in dealing with public health issue in our members’
country.
Another outstanding effort to promote knowledge and experience sharing is the organization
of
the
AUN Health Promotion Conference, and the next one will be organized in Manila on 20-21
August
2019.
Health promotion research collaboration: AUN-HPN has encouraged our
members to
develop a collaborative research project among themselves and with other academic partners.
In
2018,
AUN-HPN was successful in providing a platform for our members to discuss and develop a
collaborative research project on non-communicable diseases. In parallel with this project,
another
research project on physical activity has successfully been granted (for 3 years during
2018-2021)
and will start the implementation by the first quarter in 2019. This successful grant will
be a
demonstration project to our members on how to work together and generate the knowledge
required
to
improve public health and wellbeing.