The first Health Working Group (HWG) meeting under India’s G20 presidency gets under way at Thiruvananthapuram from Wednesday, wherein India will assimilate lessons from the health emergency management during the COVID pandemic and strive for the creation of a “robust, resilient, responsive and inclusive” global health architecture, Lav Agarwal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said here on Tuesday.
Briefing media here on the priorities identified for discussion in the HWG1 meeting, Mr. Agarwal said that while setting new goals, India will consolidate ongoing action on the priorities and key takeaways of the previous G20 presidencies also.
The three priority areas that the HWG1 will be taking up has already been identified, these being Health emergencies prevention, preparedness and responsiveness (focus on One Health and Antimicrobial Resistance); Cooperation in strengthening participation in pharmaceutical sector, with focus on Access, Availability and Affordability of medical countermeasures and the third area being Digital Health, how technology can support Universal Health Coverage and health services delivery.
“As far as the access and availability of medical countermeasures (vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics) is concerned, we will explore if regional networks of R & D can be created and wider manufacturing across regions is possible. With COVID pandemic waning, another priority would be the creation of a regional level medical countermeasures platform for the management of global health emergencies,” Mr. Agarwal said.
He pointed out that while accessibility of medical countermeasures are a major point of discussion globally, from India’s perspective, affordability aspect was very important.
“India, during its G20 presidency, would like to stress on the point of affordability when medical countermeasures are prioritised. If at some point of time, if a global fund for providing vaccines and therapeutics to low income countries were to be created, the medical countermeasures that we prioritise now will have an impact on the fund,” he pointed out.
It was technology that helped India’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the creation of the COVID-19 portal and the vaccine platform which ensured that over two bullion vaccine doses could be delivered. India would like to work with G20 countries to ensure that such digital technologies were widely available across nations.
“In that context, India’s approach to UHC through Ayushman Bharat is something that we would like to showcase at this meeting,” Mr. Agarwal said.
As part of the HWG1 meeting, some side events have also been organised on a few areas that India would like to highlight. India has chosen to highlight Medical Value Travel with an accent on holistic healthcare and traditional medicine. The idea being pushed is whether G20 nations can collaborate to create a facilitative environment wherein UHC and value-based healthcare can be supported.
Apart from representatives of G20 nations, HWG1 meetings which will be held from January 18-20 in the capital will be attended by representatives of nine invited nations as well as 30 international organisations working in the area of healthcare.
