The ageing of the global population particularly in Asia is associated with a rising prevalence of chronic disease and preventable illness, generating escalating demand for health care threatens the sustainability of health systems. To address this impending crisis, the World Health Organization has advocated a strategy for people- centered integrated health services based on primary care. In the Asia Pacific Region, a growing private sector in fragmented healthcare systems creates daunting challenges for integrative healthcare.

The course will provide an overview of the challenges in engaging the private healthcare sector for health systems’ goals and how the policy instruments and governance tools can be applied to this goal. A framework for a strategy for integrating healthcare and the mechanisms for horizontal and vertical healthcare integration will be presented to direct the policy instruments needed for their implementation. Case Studies and Case Work on country experiences and challenges will contextualize the learning. A final session will cover critical factors for implementation, approaches in monitoring and evaluation of policy interventions.