On April 23 (Wednesday), the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare held the '2025 KGA Asia General Assembly' at the Busan Port International Exhibition and Convention Center (BPEX).

The General Assembly was attended by a total of 110 participants, including alumni of Dr LEE Jong-wook Fellowship Program, program-related officials, and fellows joining 2025 program, as well as about 150 guests from the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea, the World Health Organization (WHO), and KOFIH.

The attendees shared examples of KOFIH's capacity building in primary healthcare in Asia, and explored ways to collaborate on health care between Korea and Asia. In the keynote speech, Dr. Faraz Khalid, a WHO primary health care expert, presented on ways to innovate primary health care, and alumni representatives introduced examples of dissemination training and alumni activities in their home countries after the fellowship program.

Dr LEE Jong-wook Fellowship Program, which was launched in 2007 to carry on the spirit of the late Dr. Lee, who served as the sixth Director-General of the WHO, is a capacity-building project for healthcare workers in developing countries, and as of 2024, it has graduated 1,672 trainees from a total of 30 countries.

In Asia, Lao PDR (319), Cambodia (141), Uzbekistan (105), and Vietnam (100) had the highest participation rates, with many of the trainees serving as key personnel in their respective countries as directors of national hospitals and senior health ministry officials.

In 2025, approximately 200 trainees from more than 20 countries will participate in the program, which will last from two months to 24 months through seven courses in health professional education, health policy, biomedical engineering, health financing and economics, infectious diseases, clinical, and degree programs in nursing, basic medicine, and medical education.

Since 2016, alumni from each country have voluntarily formed the KOFIH Global Alumni (KGA) to continue knowledge exchange and capacity building after the fellowship program, and as of 2024, there are 1,493 members from 12 countries. KOFIH plans to expand support for country-specific reunions and local activities and actively pursue follow-up projects to strengthen the network among alumni.

After the General Assembly, alumni from six countries – Lao PDR, Mongolia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and Cambodia - will attend the WONCA Asia Pacific Regional Conference (APRC) to continue academic exchanges across Asia, and visit Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital and the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Medical Cluster to learn about domestic healthcare systems and advanced technologies.

KOFIH will continue to make various efforts to establish Dr LEE Jong-wook Fellowship Program as a representative platform for international cooperation in the healthcare sector.

▲ Group photo of key participants

▲ Group photo of all participants