The COVID-19 pandemic exposed both the strengths and vulnerabilities of public health systems across the Asia Pacific. While tertiary biomedical measures like vaccinations were vital, the crisis also highlighted the indispensable roles of primary health care workers, health promotions, and community-based preventive strategies. The pandemic has also illuminated long-standing population health inequities in our region, shaped by colonial legacies, socio-political marginalisation, and urban–rural divides. This chapter proposes that the pandemic has given us an opportunity to reflect on the current public health systems. Public health systems across Asia Pacific must prioritise primordial prevention for both prevention and recovery—the foundational tier of the Tiered Model of Public Health Prevention (Eisenman, 2016, as cited in National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017). Primordial prevention can be defined as actions to modify population health determinants, by inhibiting the establishment of environmental, social, economic, and behavioural factors which can increase the development of future diseases. A social epidemiology lens is essential to this shift. Unlike the biomedical paradigm that narrowly focuses on just disease symptoms and clinical treatments, social epidemiology recognises that political structures and social and ecological conditions can shape population health. This chapter discusses the importance of applying theoretical frameworks from both modern Western and indigenous health models, such as Barton and Grant’s Health Map, Te Whare Tapa Whā, Fonofale, Fonua, and the Starburst Model, to promote a more holistic approach to building a more resilient public health system in Asia Pacific, with a stronger equity-focus.