Southeast Asian Nations Member States Research Articles

Nursing workforce characteristics and effect on life expectancy and under-five mortality in the ASEAN.

To assess the effects of the nursing workforce and advanced nursing practice on the outcomes of patients and life expectancy, including mortality rates of under-five children in Cambodia, and to develop policy recommendations to increase the influence of the nursing workforce. In low-middle-income nations, life expectancy and under-five mortality are important measures of public health. However, there is still a dearth of literature related to the nursing workforce in Southeast Asia. The authors retrieved the data from the World Nursing Report produced by the World Health Organization 2020 for 10 member states. The transparent reporting of a multivariable prediction model for individual prognosis or diagnosis checklist has guided this study. The univariate linear regression model was applied to categorize the potential predictors for each outcome assessment. In addition, the Spearman rank correlation test was selected to assess the potential predictors, and a multivariate statistical analysis was carried out for each of the five outcomes. According to the study's findings, nurse density and advanced practice nursing improve both female and male life expectancy. The existence of advanced nursing roles is associated with decreased under-five mortality. There are great opportunities to improve the nursing workforce within Cambodia and other Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states to increase patient outcomes. Investment in nursing is essential for improved patient outcomes. Health policy investments in these projects and future initiatives intended to advance nurse density, education, and practice are based on this study's results. Policy initiatives should focus on increasing density because nursing appears to impact life expectancy and other outcomes.

Habits of peace: Long-term regional cooperation in Southeast Asia

The nation-states that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are widely described to be peaceful in their relations with each other, so much so that scholars have referred to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ “long peace.” While it is true that war eludes the region, interstate militarized disputes remain a persistent feature. How can we account for the absence of war between Association of Southeast Asian Nations members in light of persistent militarized disputes? To address this question, this article builds on the emerging International Relations literature on habits and practice in interstate relations. I develop a framework centred on the habitual dispositions of communities of practitioners that focuses on the unreflexive cognitive and behavioural qualities of regional relations. These “habits of peace” circumscribe thinking and behaviour among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ state practitioners. Specifically, they have led to a toleration of limited violence among Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states. After tracing the existence of these habitual qualities of relations, I demonstrate their effects on regional crisis response, which makes possible community building and maintenance alongside considerable levels of interstate violence. I explore this through an in-depth analysis of the regional response to the 2011 Preah Vihear crisis between Cambodia and Thailand.