DHAKA, (Reuters) - Parliamentarians from 10 Asian countries have called for public spending on health care to be progressively raised to five percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The proposal was contained in a so-called "call for action" charter drawn up at a three day conference which ended on Wednesday.

The conference was attended by some 50 parliamentarians from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Most of these countries spend between 1.2 and two percent of GDP in the health sector, World Health Organisation (WHO) officials said.

"The proportion of GDP for the health sector should progressively increase to at least 4-5 percent...," said the charter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

The meeting focused on poverty and its links with tuberculosis and malaria, diseases which a WHO official said were once believed to be under control but were rampant again in developing countries.

The charter also noted however, links between poverty and diseases such as HIV/AIDS, diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections, and problems such as unsafe pregnancies.

"...These diseases cannot be tackled without addressing their main cause, namely poverty," the charter said. It did not otherwise address the HIV problem ahead of World Aids Day on Friday.

It also called on governments, together with non-government organisations, community-based groups and other concerned interests to launch an education and health promotion campaign that should curb tobacco, alcohol and narcotics consumption.