Access the OECD/Korea Policy Centre website

The Centre – officially opened on 7 July 2008 – results from the integration of four pre-existing OECD/Korea Centres, one of which was the Regional Centre on Health and Social Policy (RCHSP), established in 2005.

In the area of health and social policy, the Centre promotes policy dialogue and information sharing between OECD economies and non-OECD Asian/Pacific countries. In pursuit of this vision, the Centre hosts various kinds of international meetings, seminars, and workshops in each sector and provides policy forums presented by experts at home and abroad. There are four main areas of work: social protection statistics (jointly with the International Labour Organization and the Asian Development Bank); the Family Database for the Asia/Pacific region; health expenditure and financing statistics, quality of care indicators and policies to improve affordability of medicines (jointly with the World Health Organization) and on pension policies (jointly with the World Bank). 

EVALUATING QUALITY STRATEGIES IN ASIA-PACIFIC COUNTRIES: SURVEY RESULTS

The results of the survey provide a useful overview of quality strategies and policies, and show increasing commitment to quality of care in the Asia/Pacific region. The outcome of this study confirms the importance of the WHO-OECD expert network to facilitate communication/dissemination of evidence on quality improvement programmes and policies among countries. > Download the report (released August 2015)

Health

The OECD/Korea Policy Centre encourages the development of health accounting systems to track health expenditures and financing flows in the Asian/Pacific Region.

LATEST REPORTS

• Health at a Glance: Asia/Pacific 2022 - Measuring Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage. This seventh edition of Health at a Glance Asia/Pacific presents a set of key indicators of health status, the determinants of health, health-care resources and utilisation, health-care expenditure and financing, and quality of care across 27 Asia-Pacific countries and territories. It also provides a series of dashboards to compare performance across countries and territories, and a thematic analysis on the health impact of COVID-19. Drawing on a wide range of data sources, it builds on the format used in previous editions of Health at a Glance, and gives readers a better understanding of the factors that affect the health of populations and the performance of health systems in these countries and territories. Each of the indicators is presented in a user-friendly format, consisting of charts illustrating variations across countries and territories, and over time, brief descriptive analyses highlighting the major findings conveyed by the data, and a methodological box on the definition of the indicators and any limitations in data comparability. An annex provides additional information on the demographic and economic context in which health systems operate
• Pricing long-term care for older persons, WHO Centre for Health Development (‎Kobe, Japan)‎, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Barber, Sarah L, van Gool, Kees, Wise, Sarah. et al., August 2021‎. Access Country case studies and policy briefs, Interviews with authors, and all background material
• How pharmaceutical systems are organized in Asia and the Pacific, a co-publication between WHO and the OECD which includes 2-page profiles of 14 countries (in WPRO and SEARO) and provides snapshots on how pharmaceutical systems are organised in each country. Released February 2018
• A Report for the Survey on Measuring Expenditure by Disease in the Asia-Pacific Region, SHA Technical Paper No.20 (August 2016). This is an overview of participating countries’ practices and availability of data on expenditure by disease, age and gender collected by a questionnaire, which is included in the report
• Nineteen System of Health Accounts Papers have been released so far, covering Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong - China, Mongolia, Korea, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, Malaysia, India, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia and Indonesia, Pakistan, among others

Since 2005, the Centre has also hosted annual meetings of Health Accounts Experts in the Asian-Pacific Region. These meetings have offered a venue for taking stock of recent developments in health accounts work at the regional and national levels, discuss technical issues and data-collection improvements, and review the quality of health accounting data and practices in the region.

To assist the Member States to improve the efficiency of their medicines and health technology management system, the establishment of the Asia Pacific Network on Access to Medicines under Universal Health Coverage (UHC) was proposed at the first Meeting on Access to Medicines under UHC in the Asia Pacific Region held in 2014. The Network is a joint initiative by WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Korea Policy Centre, and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Systems at Seoul National University. The first network meeting was held at the second Meeting on Access to Medicines under Universal Health Coverage in the Asia Pacific Region in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, from 17 to 18 September 2015 (read the meeting report).

 

Social policy

The OECD/Korea Policy Centre organised a OECD-Korea Centre/ADB conference on Social Protection Index for Committed Poverty Reduction in December 2007 and a follow-up ADB/ILO/OECD Korea Policy Centre meeting of Social Policy Indicators Experts in Asia in November 2008. Society at a Glance - Asia/Pacific Edition (modelled on Society at a Glance - OECD Social Indicators), published every two years, offers a broad overview of the Asia/Pacific economies using a wide variety of social and economic indicators that help inform policy on a broad range of social issues. The report also demonstrates how social indicators can be used to measure “well-being” in Southeast Asian economies.

In December 2022 the OECD/Korea Policy Centre organised the 17th Social Expert meeting in the Asia/Pacific region. Society at a Glance - Asia/Pacific Edition (modelled on Society at a Glance - OECD Social Indicators), published every two years, offers a broad overview of the Asia/Pacific economies using a wide variety of social and economic indicators that help inform policy on a broad range of social issues. Quantitative evidence on social indicators such as poverty, social expenditures, and demographic trends across countries in Asia and the Pacific helps economies identify where they can learn from the experience of other countries.

The OECD/Korea Policy Centre encourages the development of social accounting systems to track social expenditures in the Asian/Pacific Region. Several Social Expenditure (SOCX) Blue Papers have been released so far, covering Korea and Japan among other countries.

 

FAMILY

In December 2022 the Korea Policy Centre organised the 8th Family Policy Experts meeting in the Asia/Pacific region, which discussed a range of issues: issues arising during the data collection process and cross-national comparability issues; recent family policy developments in each country in the Asia Pacific region; and general suggestions to improve the Family Database in the Asia/Pacific region including new indicators. The online Family Database in Asia/Pacific (modelled on the OECD Family Database) was developed to provide cross-national indicators on family outcomes and family policies across the Asia/Pacific economies and is updated every other year.

 

Pensions

Pensions are a major policy issue in Southeast Asian and OECD economies alike. The OECD has developed international standards and statistical data to help monitor the pensions industry, and is currently drawing up guidelines on the security of investments in pension funds. In 2009, the OECD/Korea Policy Centre, the OECD and the World Bank first published Pensions at a Glance: Asia/Pacific Edition. This report analysed the retirement income systems of several Southeast Asian economies and provided a reference for pension comparison throughout the region. A fifth edition of the report Pensions at a Glance: Asia/Pacific Edition was launched in 2022.

Contact

For more information, contact [email protected].