The 3rd ASEAN Academic Conference on Disaster Health Management Held in Bangkok

The 3rd ASEAN Academic Conference on Disaster Health Management (AAC on DHM), the third conference since the establishment of the ASEAN Academic Network on Disaster Health Management (AANDHM), was held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 18 to 20 November 2025. As the official academic conference of the AANDHM, this year’s event marked the first in-person conference hosted in Thailand, following the inaugural online conference in 2021 (Thailand) and the second conference held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2023.

After extensive discussions within the AANDHM Steering Committee on the conference’s core concepts and session selection, the event was successfully planned and convened. The conference was co-hosted by the National Institute for Emergency Medicine (NIEM) of Thailand together with the ARCH Project/JICA.

As this conference marked the final academic meeting of the ARCH Project, concluding a decade of activities,it featured a diverse array of thematic sessions. These included reflections on Japan’s commitment to technical cooperation for the development of DHM in ASEAN, JICA’s long-standing collaboration with Thailand and the historical background leading to the project’s launch, as well as discussions on the progress of DHM in the ASEAN region and the creation and sharing of knowledge across borders. In addition to topics directly related to DHM, a variety of relevant and highly engaging sessions were organized, under the conference theme of “Building the Disaster Health Management for a Resilient ASEAN”.

Furthermore, this year’s conference aimed to enhance its quality and international profile by accepting abstract submissions not only from AANDHM member institutions, but also broadly from within and beyond the ASEAN region. It was also the first time the conference employed parallel-session operations. Considerable time and effort were devoted by NIEM’s Scientific Committee, supported by the ASEAN Institute for Disaster Health Management (AIDHM) responsible for overseeing AANDHM activities, to secure a sufficient number of presentations and ensure the selection of high-quality abstracts. As a result, the conference received submissions exceeding the available presentation slots. In total, 42 abstracts were accepted for oral presentations and 26 for poster presentations, in addition to several invited speakers arranged for individual thematic sessions. The conference welcomed 311 participants, with an impressively high number of attendees beyond the presenters themselves.

Notably, many participants from within ASEAN—who previously had little or no experience presenting at academic conferences—took the initiative to join as presenters. Numerous participants shared that preparing their posters or oral presentations offered them the opportunity to “learn the and practice of academic presentation.” This outcome strongly reflects AANDHM’s objective of nurturing young and emerging professionals in the field.

In the keynote speech delivered by Professor Donald Donahue, invited from the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM), he emphasized that “ASEAN’s values and culture of solidarity as well as collective approach serves as a highly effective foundation for the academic platform.” In addition, Professor Yodi, Head of AIDHM and former Chair of the AANDHM Steering Committee who has provided strong leadership for its academic activities up to this conference, remarked: “ASEAN, unfortunately, experiences disasters more frequently than any other region, but this presents opportunities for scientific examination and evidence-based research. It is vital to establish an atmosphere that enables a bidirectional transformation—from experience to science, and from science back to experience. That is what academic activity is about, and the network represents the colleagues who advance this process together.”

Within the governance structure of the AANDHM, this official conference also marks the transition of the Network’s chairmanship. Since the previous conference in Indonesia, Professor Yodi of Universitas Gadjah Mada has served as Chair of the AANDHM Steering Committee. Following this year’s conference, NIEM will take over as the lead institution for the next two years, with Mr. Paisan serving as Chair to guide the Network’s operations.

Unlike the more visible front-line activities in disaster response, academic work requires the patience to translate field experiences into scientific knowledge, as well as conduct complex research and data collections. At the same time, it plays a critical role in linking practice with science as ASEAN continues to advance its own approach to disaster health management.

Representatives of the AANDHM Steering Committee also participated in this conference. It is expected that the National focal-point institutions from each AMS gained valuable inspiration and renewed motivation from the event—momentum that will further strengthen their contributions to regional academic activities for building up the resilient ASEAN!