High-level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC): UHC as a Tool to Combat Infectious Diseases (30 – 31 May 2018, Tokyo, Japan) ASEF Public Health Network and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan are co-hosting a multi-country. The overall aim of this High-level Meeting is to facilitate agreement between governments and other stakeholders on practical actions to ensure access to effective treatment of infectious diseases, while reducing the risk of the emergence of AMR. The specific objectives are: To bring together officials with responsibilities for AMR and UHC and other stakeholders to explore the challenges they face in both ensuring access to antibiotic treatment, when needed, and reducing the risk of AMR; To identify practical strategies for integrating a concern for AMR into strategies for making progress towards UHC and for taking UHC strategies into account in national action plans for addressing AMR To agree on priorities for international cooperation between Asia and Europe to support an equitable and sustainable approach for addressing the challenge of infectious diseases.

The High-level Meeting will address 3 target audiences: 1) Senior-level health officials who are working in the area of UHC and/or AMR and 2) Officials whose duty is related to pandemic preparedness and response 3) Private company representatives who have an involvement in the production, supply and use of antibiotics. More specifically: Senior-level officials, advisors, and/or other decision-makers from ASEM Partners’ Ministry of Health or equivalent who work in the area of UHC and/or AMR Chief/directors of ASEM Partners’ national health agencies or equivalent who work in the area of UHC or AMR Senior-level from ASEM Partners’ Ministries of Finance, and Foreign Affairs Representatives of international organisations, NGOs Representatives of private sectors whose work is closely related to AMR, such as pharmaceutical industries