'India to focus on health emergencies prevention preparedness & response': Health Minister

India, being in the spotlight this year due to its G20 (Group of Twenty) Presidency, has to set the agenda for 2023 which the participating nations will follow.

Focusing on the agenda for the health ministry in India, Union Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday said that during its G20 Presidency, India will focus on health emergencies prevention preparedness and response through One Health and AMR. "India's G20 Presidency health priorities will be focussed on - health emergencies prevention preparedness and response," said Mandaviya.

"India will aim to play a proactive role in representing the Global South in the negotiations across multilateral Global health platforms," said Mandaviya. The Union Minister also emphasised upon strengthening cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector by creating a permanent medical countermeasure platform and ensuring the availability of safe, quality and affordable diagnostic vaccines and therapeutics.

Notably, the 1st Health Working Group (HWG) meeting will start from Jan18 -20 at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala; Second HWG meeting will take place from April 17-19 in Goa; Third HWG meeting will be from June 4-6 in Hyderabad, Telangana and the fourth HWG meeting and G20 Health Ministerial Meeting will take place from August 17-19 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. India formally assumed the Presidency of G-20 on December 1, 2022 and will hold it till November 30, 2023.

For India, an opportunity for setting an agenda for healthcare has been a priority area for G20 deliberations since 2017. The G20 now has health finance in its financial stream and health systems development in the Sherpa stream. An annual G20 meeting of health ministers and a joint health and finance task force reflects the seriousness the subject has gained.

The Berlin Declaration 2017 of the G20 health ministers provided a composite approach focusing on pandemic preparedness, health system strengthening and tackling antimicrobial resistance. The Covid-19 pandemic gave added urgency to pandemic preparedness and the Indonesian presidency in 2022 made it the major focus. The Indian presidency needs to advance these agendas.

What is One Health and AMR?

Using a One Health approach which helps design, implement and monitor programmes, policies and research on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance to provide evidence and advance inter-sectoral collaboration between public health, animal and environmental health sectors to achieve better public health outcomes. India will aim to play a major role in converging discussions in multiple forums for Global Health Architecture and act as an enabler for reducing fragmentation and duplication, said the minister.

Joint Finance and Health Task Force Meeting held in December

The 1st Joint Finance and Health Task Force Meeting under the Indian G20 Presidency was held in virtual mode on December 20 last year. The meeting was attended by Finance and Health representatives from G20 and Invited Countries as well as International Organizations. The meeting was co-chaired by Italy and Indonesia. The Bali Leaders’ Declaration 2022 extended the mandate of the Task Force to continue the collaborations between Finance and Health Ministries for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response.

The Task Force Secretariat worked with the Indian Presidency and Co-Chairs Italy and Indonesia to draft the work plan for 2023 and beyond, which was designed around Indian Presidency’s Global Health Priorities for 2023. The work plan was presented for adoption during the meeting. The members expressed commitment to the Task Force’s mandate of contributing to strengthening global health architecture for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and working with the Secretariat and the Co-Chairs on achieving the deliverables for 2023.

(With agency inputs)