PH@UM Global Health Series lecture by Prof Phua Kai Hong from Singapore Management University

Migration and Healthcare: Social and Economic Approaches

Migration and its impact on health have featured in the past history of social and economic development. Recently this is becoming prominent due to challenges of globalisation, security and social justice, not only to host countries but also to the migrants. With further regional growth such as ASEAN integration, it is expected that migration and health issues will become contentious. The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) published a research report Migrants and Healthcare: Social and Economic Approaches using mixed methods, including cost-benefit and stakeholder analysis in policy analysis, with a focus on migrants’ access to healthcare, and case studies of Austria, Italy, Hong Kong SAR and Singapore. It presented evidence that exclusion from primary healthcare causes unnecessary loss of human capital or other social costs due to delayed or denied care. There is a need to analyse healthcare policies for migrants not only from a human rights point of view but also from a socio-economic perspective to strengthen the case for the health of migrants.

About the Speaker

Professor Kai Hong PHUA lectures in Health Economics at the Singapore Management University and holds adjunct appointments at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore. He is also a Visiting Professor in Health Policy, Graduate School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University. He was previously Associate Professor and Head, Health Services Research at the Department of Community, Occupational & Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore. He teaches health policy and management, health economics and global health in the various graduate programs in public policy and public administration. He graduated with honours cum laude at Harvard University and received graduate degrees from Harvard School of Public Health (Master in Health Services Administration & Population Sciences) and London School of Economics and Political Science (PhD in Social Administration, specializing in Health Economics). He was the recipient of a Harvard College Scholarship, the Sigma Scholarship from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, and the National University of Singapore Overseas Graduate Scholarship. He had served as President of the London School of Economics Alumni Association in Singapore, and Executive Committee of the Harvard Club of Singapore as Treasurer and Editor.

Dr Phua has produced over 200 publications and papers in the field of health policy & management and related areas, including history of health services, population ageing, health economics & financing. He is the author of Singapore Chronicles: Healthcare (2018) and co-editor of Ageing Asia: Contemporary Trends and Policy Issues (2019). He led the Rockefeller Foundation-funded project on Trends Monitoring in Asia, from 1999-2014 as Principal Investigator of the health systems component, and is co-lead editor of the Social Science & Medicine special issue on Health Systems in Asia (2017), and co-lead author of the overview for the Lancet series on Health in Southeast Asia (2011). He is a founding member of the Asian Health Systems Reform Network (DRAGONET); and was past Chair, Executive Board of Asia-Pacific Health Economics Network; and past Associate Editor of Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health and Singapore Economic Review. He delivered the 2012 ST Lee Lecture at the Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney and the Australian National University.

Dr Phua received The Outstanding Young Person of Singapore award in 1992 for his contributions to health policy and community service. He is a past Vice-Chairman of the Singapore Red Cross and Chair, International Services Committee, having served as its Director of Welfare and chairman of various humanitarian projects and medical missions throughout the region. He served on the Board of Management of the Home Nursing Foundation and was a founder Council Member and Chairman, Resource Committee of the Gerontological Society. He was Chairman of the Task Force on Social Services 2015, to develop a strategic plan for the National Council of Social Service. He was appointed on many national advisory committees, including the Singapore Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) Resource Panel on Health (1989-2013), National Advisory Council on the Family and Aged (1989-1994), Review Committee on National Health Policies (1991-1992), and Health Advisory Council, (1989-1992).

He has undertaken numerous consulting assignments for regional governments and non-governmental organizations in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, India, Bangladesh and the Middle East. Internationally, he served as Chairman, Technical Advisory Group on Health Sector Development of the World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office (2000-2005) and moderated the Ministerial Roundtable on Health and Poverty at the WHO Regional Meeting in 2000 and the WHO Bi-Regional Meeting on Health Care Financing in 2005. He has consulted in health policy and management to many public, voluntary and international agencies within the Asia-Pacific region, including the Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health, Red Cross, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Economic & Social Commission for the Asia-Pacific, World Bank and World Health Organization.