Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), Myanmar and Viet Nam, CLMV countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), experienced a relatively smaller scale of confirmed cases and fatalities due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been working with these countries for more than a decade to build their preparedness against communicable diseases and strengthen their existing health systems, which may have helped them contain the outbreak, according to Mr.

The Third Meeting of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Working Group on Health Cooperation, jointly organized by the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), was held on 12–13 December in Bangkok, Thailand.

Mr. Steven Beck of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) wrote in a blog post that “the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need to support trade to not only move medical supplies but also to bolster economies.” His post asked (i) how we can maintain trade flows at a time when everyone’s attention seems to be focused on tightening borders, and (ii) how we can keep goods moving when the financial systems that companies rely on are under stress. 

As the region works to overcome the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through the GMS Health Security Project is supporting reinforcement of public health security and readiness of health systems in Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), Myanmar, and Viet Nam, to face the threats of COVID-19.