G20 Presidency: India to focus on health emergency prevention, preparedness

Prevention and preparedness against health emergencies is the number one priority of the health working group under India’s G20 presidency, which will take place after two years of a global pandemic. The health ministry on Thursday said that India would play a major role in converging discussions on global health architecture and “act as an enabler for reducing fragmentation and duplication under the G20 presidency”.

The health ministry also said that India would aim to play a proactive role in representing the Global South in the negotiations across multilateral health platforms.

The second priority of the group would be to strengthen cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector on issues such as access, availability and affordable medical countermeasures. The health ministry said that India would be able to utilise the agenda to promote distributed manufacturing of vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics globally to manage future health emergencies.

As the pharmacy of the world, India has exported drugs and vaccines to over 150 countries globally during the pandemic, the health ministry said. “Availability of medical countermeasures is linked to national security and India can play a proactive role in ensuring health security for the Global South and low- and medium-income countries,” it said.

Digital health innovation and solutions would be the third priority of the working group with the idea of democratising technology by promoting digital public goods, creating a repository and customising the best solutions.

“Use of digital health solutions such as CoWIN, telemedicine, and Covid-19 India platform highlighted the advantages of data-driven insights and use of technology for accessibility, ease of availability, and affordability in health service delivery,” the health ministry said.

The first meeting of the health working group would be held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, between January 18 and 20. The next would be in Goa from April 17 to 19. The last two meetings would be in Hyderabad, Telangana, in June and Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in August.

The health track was introduced in 2017 under the German presidency. “The health working group is one of the most important working groups under the Sherpa Track,” the ministry said.