Policy Updates

On September 21, 2024, US President Joe Biden hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for the Quad Leaders’ Summit Meeting at his home in Delaware.

Albanese announced that the Quad planned to address cervical cancer in the Indo-Pacific through the launch of the Quad Cancer Moonshot initiative.

Australia would contribute to the initiative by expanding its existing Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer Program. This program aimed to assist country governments to run HPV vaccine programs, including in Malaysia, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and Fiji.

The Australian Government will commit AUD17 million (US$11 million), with an additional AUD13 million (US$9 million) to come from a private philanthropy organization, the Minderoo Foundation, which was established by Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest.

The HPV vaccine used against cervical cancer was co-developed by Professor Ian Frazer of the University of Queensland in northern Australia.

Cervical cancer rates are up to 13 times higher in Pacific Island countries than in Australia. Australia aims to eliminate cervical cancer domestically by 2035.

On August 30, 2024, Australia's NHMRC awarded a grant of US$3 million to establish a center focused on NTDs.

The funding was awarded to the Kirby Institute, located within the University of New South Wales In Sydney. Professor John Kaldor stated that the new center will be called ENGAGE.

It would involve service organizations and health researchers in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. The center will seek to work with partner countries and communities on preventing and controlling endemic neglected tropical diseases.

On August 26, 2024, the Development Policy Centre at the Australian National University announced its 2024 Australasian Aid Conference, to be held from December 3 to 5, 2024, at the Crawford School of Public Policy in Canberra, focusing on a range of sectors and aims to support development within the research community and promoting collaboration.

The conference is Australia’s largest annual meeting on international development and normally attracts some 600 participants, including researchers from the Pacific, Asia, and Australia.

The Development Policy Centre also planned to host a 2024 Pacific Migration Workshop on September 3, 2024. The workshop will focus on climate resilience and mobility, as well as the economic dimensions and social implications of migration.

Submissions are open until August 30, 2024, to propose possible panel events and papers.

On August 20, 2024, Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy announced AUD35 million (US$23 million) for a new Civil Society Partnerships Fund to improve the ability of civil society to engage in decisions, improve information sharing, and broaden community meetings.

The funding supports engagement with development partners to discuss priorities and improve local leadership. The program was funded for 4 years.

Australia plans to introduce a new transparency portal by the end of 2024 and published its first report on the Performance of Australian Development Cooperation.

Conroy announced the new fund in the context of the first anniversary of the Australian government’s International Development Policy. He claimed that since the new policy was launched, the ODA program assisted almost 24 million emergency-affected vulnerable people and provided therapeutics, medical equipment, and vaccines to immunize 10 million people.

On June 21, 2024, Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy announced a AUD5 million (US$3 million) commitment to assist veterinary capacity to identify and respond to animal disease outbreaks in regional countries.

The program would be delivered through a consortium headed by the University of Sydney.

Another program, totaling AUD11 million (US$7 million), is slated to be conducted in partnership with the Menzies School of Health Research, to improve health surveillance by countries in Southeast Asia, including monitoring AMR.

A further AUD16 million (US$11 million) was allocated to assist the development of better drugs for neglected tropical diseases. It will be be delivered through the Melbourne-based Medicines Development for Global Health, a not-for-profit bio-pharmaceutical company.

On June 21, 2024, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic announced a program of partnerships with CSIRO, totaling AUD24 million (US$16 million).

These would fund capacity building in identifying and responding to disease outbreaks in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. Countries involved included Fiji, Lao PDR, Indonesia, and Viet Nam.

CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness is slated to receive AUD16 million (US$11 million) to strengthen animal health laboratories in Southeast Asia as well as Pacific Island field diagnostic networks.

The initiative also includes assistance to improve capabilities in Southeast Asia to develop and manufacture biopharmaceuticals and vaccines.

On June 17, 2024, the second edition of the Australian Lowy Institute's 'aid map' documents showed overall ODA flows to Southeast Asia from all sources declined to US$26 billion in 2022, following a reduction in COVID-19 related support.

Some traditional donors, including Australia, showed a small decline in ODA transfers. Substantial reductions appeared in flows from China and the ADB.

Southeast Asia also saw a significant decline in climate-oriented development finance. Lowy indicated that climate finance had declined by 15% over the previous year.

The map covered financial flows by 107 development partners to 120,000 projects.

On April 25, 2024, World Malaria Day, Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong announced the new range of assistance to support communities and governments in the Southeast Asia-Pacific region to reduce malaria.

A new partnership with PATH is slated to receive AUD8 million (US$5 million). Australia’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Burnett Institute will work with PATH to develop new diagnostics for malaria.

In addition, Australia will provide AUD17 million (US$11 million) to continue its partnership with the Medicines for Malaria Venture. The funds will go to the development of new treatments and medicines for malaria suitable for children and for use in pregnancy.

Funding will also be provided to James Cook University in tropical North Queensland to assist Pacific countries to strengthen their control and surveillance of mosquito borne diseases including Zika, dengue and malaria.

On April 8, 2024, it was announced that the World Mosquito Program by Monash University in Victoria, Australia, to defeat dengue fever was successfully extended to Kiribati, Fiji, and Vanuatu following successful trials in Jogjakarta, Indonesia and in Medellín, Colombia.

The World Mosquito Program was funded in part by the Australian government, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and other donors. It involves introducing the Wolbachia bacteria to a local mosquito population. The bacteria inhibit the transfer of dengue virus from infected humans to a new host and is believed to provide more resistance to the Zika and Chikungunya viruses. The bacteria will then spread generationally to infect most mosquitoes.

In Southeast Asia, dengue fever particularly affects children and young adults.

Australia also announced that it would provide AUD3 million (US$2 million) in assistance to combat the spread of dengue in Lao PDR.

On April 7, 2024, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong announced AUD45.5 million (US30 million ) for the improvement of health workforce skills and improve disease response and surveillance.

In total, six initiatives were announced to improve health systems in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a focus on disease surveillance and response, including AMR. The initiatives also included a focus on supporting individuals with disabilities.

Providers of the new programs included a range of universities and expert organizations in Australia and abroad. The funding for the initiative was part of the Australian Government’s Partnerships for a Healthy Region initiative.