9.3 About the authors

9.3 About the authors

Editors:

Viroj Tangcharoensathien – Senior Advisor, International Health Policy Program, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand Walaiporn Patcharanarumol – Director, Global health division, Office of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand Haruka Sakamoto – Researcher, Department of global health policy, University of Tokyo

Overall authors:

Lalini Rajapaksa – Former Professor in Community Medicine, University of Colombo Padmal de Silva – National Professional Officer, Health Systems Policy and Evaluation, WHO Country Office for Sri Lanka

Palitha Abeykoon – Former Director, Health Systems Development, WHO Regional Office for South East Asia, New Delhi

Chapter authors:

Lakshmi Somatunga – Additional Secretary, Public Health Services, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Sridharan Sathasivam – Deputy Director General, Planning, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Susie Perera – Deputy Director General, Public Health Services II, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Eshani Fernando – Director Planning, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Dileep De Silva – Head, Human Resource Management and Coordination Unit, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Ashok Perera (Late)–Deputy Director, Healthcare, Quality and Safety, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Usha Perera (Late)–Consultant Community Physician, Disaster Preparedness and Response Division, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Yasoma Weerasekara – Consultant Community Physician, Human Resource Management and Coordination Unit, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Anuji Gamage – Senior lecturer in Community Medicine, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Colombo, Sri Lanka Nalinda Wellappuli – Senior registrar in Community Medicine, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Nimali Widanapathirana – Senior registrar in Community Medicine, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Rangika Fernando – Registrar in Community Medicine, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Chatura Wijesundara – Registrar in Community Medicine, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Ruwanika Seneviratne – Registrar in Community Medicine, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Kusal Weerasinghe – Registrar in Community Medicine, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka

Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (APO) publications to date

Health Systems in Transition (HiT) review (18 countries)

• The Fiji Islands (2011) • The Philippines (2011 & 2018) • Mongolia (2013) • Malaysia (2013) • New Zealand (2014) • Lao People’s Democratic

Republic (2014) • The Republic of the Union of

Myanmar (2014) • Solomon Islands (2015) • The Kingdom of Cambodia (2015) • Bangladesh (2015) • Republic of Korea (2015) • The Kingdom of Thailand (2015) • The Kingdom of Tonga (2015) • People’s Republic of China (2015) • The Republic of Indonesia (2017) • The Kingdom of Bhutan (2017) • Japan (2018) • Independent State of Papua New

Guinea (2019)

Policy brief (13 series)

• Direct household payments for health services in Asia and the Pacific (2012) • Dual practice by health workers in

South and East Asia (2013) • Purchasing arrangements with the private sector to provide primary health care in underserved areas (2014) • Strengthening vital statistics systems (2014) • Quality of care (2015) • The challenge of extending universal coverage to non-poor informal workers in low- and middle-income countries in Asia (2015) • Factors conducive to the development of health technology assessment in Asia (2015) • Attraction and retention of rural primary health-care workers in the

Asia-Pacific region (2018) • Use of community health workers to manage and prevent noncommunicable diseases (2019) • Strategies to strengthen referral from primary care to secondary care in low- and middle-income countries (2019) • ASEAN mutual recognition arrangements for doctors, dentists and nurses (2019) • Strengthening primary health care for the prevention and management of cardiometabolic disease in LMICs (2019) • Overseas medical referral: the health system challenges for Pacific Island

Countries (2020)

HiT policy notes (four countries)

• The Republic of the Union of

Myanmar (2015) #1.What are the challenges facing Myanmar in progressing towards Universal Health Coverage? #2.How can health equity be improved in Myanmar? #3.How can the township health system be strengthened in Myanmar? #4.How can financial risk protection be expanded in Myanmar? • The Kingdom of Cambodia (2016) • Increasing equity in health service access and financing: health strategy, policy achievements and new challenges • The Kingdom of Thailand (2016) • Health system review: achievements and challenges • Bangladesh (2017) • Improving the quality of care in the public health system in Bangladesh: building on new evidence and current policy levers

HiT policy notes (four countries)

• The Republic of the Union of

Myanmar (2015) • What are the challenges facing

Myanmar in progressing towards universal health coverage? • How can health equity be improved in Myanmar? • How can the township health system be strengthened in Myanmar? • How can financial risk protection be expanded in Myanmar? • The Kingdom of Cambodia (2016) • Increasing equity in health service access and financing: health strategy, policy achievements and new challenges • The Kingdom of Thailand (2016) • Health system review: achievements and challenges • Bangladesh (2017) • Improving the quality of care in the public health system in Bangladesh: building on new evidence and current policy levers)

Comparative country studies (six series)

• Public hospital governance in Asia and the Pacific (2015) • Case-based payment systems for hospital funding in Asia: an investigation of current status and future directions (2015) • Strategic purchasing in China,

Indonesia and the Philippines (2016) • Health system responses to population ageing and noncommunicable diseases in Asia (2016) • Resilient and people-centred health systems: progress, challenges and future directions in Asia (2018) • Moving towards culturally competent, migrant-inclusive health systems: a comparative study of Malaysia and

Thailand (2021)