Childhood vaccination continues to be one of the most cost-effective health policy interventions (Chan et al., 2017). All countries have established vaccination programmes including a minimum number of routine vaccines (i.e. against polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles); additional vaccines (i.e. against pneumococcus, rotavirus and human papilloma virus) are included at national or subnational level based on local morbidity, mortality and cost-effectiveness analysis. Coverage of these programmes and reduction of burden of vaccine preventable diseases can be considered as a quality of care indicator. Polio, pertussis, measles and hepatitis B are taken here as examples as they represent, in timing and frequency of vaccination, the full spectrum of organisational challenges related to routine vaccination.

Ischaemic heart diseases and stroke were the two major causes of death in Asia-Pacific in 2016, accounting for 34.7% and 25.2% of total deaths (WHO, 2018a). Additionally, both are associated with significant health, social and non-financial costs, because of the persistent disabilities suffered by many survivors. Treatment following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke has advanced greatly over the past decade. Until the 1990s, treatment focused on prevention of complications and rehabilitation. But following the great improvements in AMI survival rates that were achieved with thrombolysis (Gil et al., 1999), clinical trials also demonstrated the benefits of thrombolytic treatment provided within six hours after acute ischemic stroke (O’Rourke et al., 2010; Wardlaw et al., 2014). Dedicated cardiac care and stroke units offering timely and proactive therapy achieve better survival than conservative care (Seenan et al., 2007), although studies have shown that a considerable number of patients fail to receive high-quality, evidence-based care (Eagle et al., 2005).

Breast cancer accounts for over 200 000 deaths per year in Asia-Pacific (WHO, 2018). There are a number of factors that increase the risk of breast cancer, such as age, family history, oestrogen replacement therapy and alcohol use, while breastfeeding and physical activity have a protective effect (World Cancer Research Fund, 2018; Gonzales-Jimenez et al., 2014).