From September 7th to 11th, 2026, Timor-Leste participated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in the 17th ASEAN Health Ministers’ Meeting (AHMM) and related meetings, which brought together the organisation’s member states and partners to set priorities for regional cooperation in the health sector and launch the ASEAN Strategic Health Agenda 2026–2030. 
The Timorese delegation was led by the Vice-Minister for Institutional Strengthening of Health, José dos Reis Magno. It included representatives from the Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Public Health of Timor-Leste (INSP-TL), among them the Director-General for Technical and Scientific Affairs, Gregório Rangel, and First Member Gustódio Alves de Jesus.
This was the first ASEAN Health Ministers’ Meeting held since Timor-Leste was admitted as the organisation’s 11th member state.
Under the theme “Healthy ASEAN: Together for Equitable and Future-Ready Health Systems”, the meeting set the direction for regional cooperation in the coming years, with a focus on the launch of the ASEAN Strategic Health Agenda 2026–2030 (ASHA).
The new agenda organises regional cooperation into four main areas: promoting healthy lifestyles and preventing non-communicable diseases; responding to emergencies and emerging public health threats; strengthening health systems and access to care; and food security.
The proceedings began with preparatory meetings of senior officials, during which key documents, programmes, and mechanisms for regional cooperation were reviewed, including the process of establishing the ASEAN Centre for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases (ACPHEED), the One Health approach, emergency preparedness and response, epidemiological surveillance, and the programmes of the four ASEAN working groups on health.
Timor-Leste also participated in the 11th ASEAN+3 Health Ministers’ Meeting, which included China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Discussions focused on strengthening health system resilience, vaccine safety, emergency preparedness and response, training in field epidemiology, digital health, mental health, and regional mechanisms for disease prevention and control.
On September 11th, the first ASEAN–United States Meeting of Health Ministers was held. The meeting addressed opportunities for cooperation in laboratory systems, biosafety and biosecurity, disease surveillance, public health intelligence, human resources development, antimicrobial resistance, and cancer prevention and control.
The meeting also highlighted the need to strengthen national surveillance and health data systems, while respecting each Member State’s sovereignty over its data and its respective national mechanisms.
On the sidelines of the meetings, Vice-Minister José dos Reis Magno met on September 8th with Bethany A. Kozma, Director of the Office of Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The meeting focused on opportunities for cooperation in maternal and child health, strengthening health systems, public health capacity building, knowledge exchange, and technical assistance.
The 17th ASEAN Health Ministers’ Meeting also provided an opportunity for Timor-Leste to deepen its participation in regional health mechanisms and identify areas of technical cooperation that could strengthen national capacities, particularly in epidemiological surveillance, laboratories, research, human resources training, and preparedness for public health emergencies.