Abstract
Asian Branches of International Life Science Institute (ILSI), i.e. China, India, Japan, Korea and South East Asian Region, identified five key public health issue priorities of each region and compared the results. In case of China, India and South East Asian countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand etc. ASEAN countries), communicable diseases were the first priority issue, while elderly issue and food safety were prime issues for Japan and Korea, respectively. Malnutrition was the second priority issue for India and ASEAN countries, whereas non-communicable disease like cancer and degenerative diseases was for Korea and China, and obesity far Japan. Typical issues were smoking for China, nutrition education for China and Japan, biotechnology aiming GMO for India, and functional food causing health claim problem for Korea and Japan. Although the priority varied with the socioeconomic situation of each county, food and water safety recorded the highest priority of all the countries. The key public health issues of Korea were discussed in detail.