Singapore, 28 October, 2024 – DKSH, a leading market expansion service provider in Asia and beyond, in collaboration with FrontierView, released the whitepaper “Southeast Asia as a Growth Accelerator for Global Healthcare Firms: Avenues to accelerate growth through expanded patient access.” The whitepaper, a result of a closed-door executive roundtable encompassing key leaders within the healthcare arena, provides an in-depth analysis on the region of Southeast Asia (SEA) as an untapped market that has yet to reach its full potential on the front of global healthcare investment. It provides an overview of the state of healthcare in the region, its foreseeable future, the challenges present and actionable recommendations for global healthcare firms to consider.
As a region, SEA is home to approximately 8.5% of the world’s population, but has a healthcare expenditure that amounts to only 1.4% of the global total. This disproportionate scale is poised for positive change with an increased importance placed on healthcare in recent years following the COVID-19 pandemic. This coincides with a booming population and a sizable forecasted rise in overall wealth in the region – setting the stage for a unique backdrop for the healthcare industry.
Cognisant of this prospect, FrontierView extensively reviewed SEA’s healthcare landscape with the support of DKSH, revealing numerous challenges endemic to the region. Though geographically limited, SEA is home to 11 countries, each with their own set of socio-economic difficulties that the whitepaper collated and analyzed. This highlighted very tangible hurdles for healthcare firms looking to enter the region, including localization and navigating multiple regulatory bodies. This is all encompassed by the overarching dominance held by public healthcare systems across the region, which has been largely characterized by their struggles related to budgetary and manpower constraints.
Challenges revealed in the whitepaper also highlighted opportunities for global firms to increase healthcare accessibility in SEA. The constraints of public healthcare systems in the region have led to more active exploration of the private sector in order to fill the gaps. Shortfalls in the public sector have been addressed through solutions such as public-private partnerships which increase capability, efficacy and accessibility in the region without compromising government resources.
The whitepaper also includes a series of recommendations backed by extensive analysis for global healthcare firms interested to enter the market. This includes forming strategies around addressing the personnel shortage, applying advanced technologies like AI to tackle unique local issues and supporting early detection as well as prevention. These recommendations and more elaborated in the whitepaper serve as an accessible and actionable guide for the private sector looking to enter this region brimming with latent opportunity.
“At DKSH, we are dedicated to improving lives by increasing accessibility to healthcare across the region. We are conscious of the complexities involved in expanding healthcare efforts, especially when penetrating new geographies. With a century of experience as the partner of choice for navigating and thriving in Asia, DKSH has accumulated a wealth of knowledge. We are excited that we were able to share our expertise and support this whitepaper which will equip our partners with the latest insights and strategies to succeed in Southeast Asia.”, said Bijay Singh, Head of Business Unit Healthcare at DKSH.
Alec Lee, Managing Director, Healthcare Research at FrontierView said that “Southeast Asia’s healthcare market is a fascinating topic and one that greatly benefits from continued in-depth analysis”. He added that “in addition to the data from our research, this whitepaper incorporates insights from leading healthcare companies, including DKSH, gathered during our executive roundtable. As a result, this has proven to be an exciting step in uncovering the full potential latent in this region. We hope that the actions outlined in the whitepaper will contribute to improving healthcare access.”
The whitepaper is now available for viewing and can be downloaded here.
