Every year during the APACPH Annual Conference, there are two main events that happened before the starts of the conference, the APACPH General Assembly (GA) and the Deans’ Meeting. The APACPH General Assembly is the annual meeting of all APACPH institutional members’ representatives and members. During the APACPH the report from the President, Secretary General, Regional Directors and Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health is presented. There is also the induction ceremony for new APACPH institutional members.
This year during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, as everything that is happening in the World, we have moved from the traditional face-to-face meeting to meeting online on the 7th December 2020. The event was hosted by the University of Colombo. The University of Colombo with the support of the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) and under the leadership of the APACPH vice-president and SLMA President Professor Dr Indika Karunathilake step in to organise the APACPH 2020 as a hybrid conference, with on-site and online participants. The original 52 APACPH Conference was supposed to be organised by Universitas Airlangga. Universitas Airlangga will be organising the 52 APACPH Conference next year in Indonesia.
During this year’s GA, two prestigious Universities from Sri Lanka were inducted as APACPH institutional members. They are the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, a pioneer of community-based medical education in Sri Lanka and the General Sri John Kotelawala Defence University the only defence University in Sri Lanka.
The following awards were awarded during the General Assembly:
THE PROFESSOR KAZUE K. MCLAREN LEADERSHIP ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Dr Palitha Abeykoon, Honorary Advisor, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka, on 8th December 2020.
APACPH PUBLIC HEALTH RECOGNITION AWARD
Professor Dr Masamine Jimba, President of the Japan Association for International Health, APACPH President Emeritus, on 8th December 2020.
EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHIP MEDALLION AWARD
Professor Dr Tri Martiana, Senate member of Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia, on 8th December 2020.
Professor Rohini Senevirathne, Consultant Community Physician, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Rathmalana (KDU), Sri Lanka, on 8th December 2020.
