India’s G20 presidency is working towards building consensus for an end-to-end Global Medical Countermeasure (MCM) ecosystem, following a network-to-network approach, and leveraging existing global and regional initiatives, Union Minister for Health, and Family Welfare Bharati Pravin Pawar said during her address at the 3rd Health Working Group meeting on Sunday.
Dr. Pawar also urged the leadership of G20 countries to create an interim platform which would be guided by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) process and would feed into the same.
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“The partnership we share as G20 members is vital and facilitates in building trust, sharing knowledge, creating networks and working together to achieve meaningful impact and results,” she said.
Dr. Pawar also highlighted the need for availability of safe, effective, and quality medical countermeasures.
Acknowledging the convergence between G7 and G20 priorities, including the launch of MCM Delivery Partnership during Japan’s G7 Presidency which aligns with G20s proposal of an end-to-end MCM ecosystem, Dr. Pawar urged the global community to strengthen ongoing efforts in that direction.
“Pandemics may not wait for the finalisation of the Pandemic Treaty and hence, the time to act is now”, she stated.
At the meeting, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan noted the need for “’Health for All’ and said that this was an important agenda outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals.
“It was also a pertinent theme in the recently concluded 76th World Health Assembly. The theme of India’s G20 Presidency — “One Earth, One Family, One Future” — also alludes to the wider concept of universal health coverage,” he said.
Meanwhile also talking about the proposed setting up of medical countermeasure coordination platform Lakshmi Narasimhan Balaji, senior adviser (Health), UNICEF, New York, said: “The mechanism will focus on strengthening global application of digital health.
