India to play key role in determining whether world achieves SDGs: Mundel

India's success in fighting tuberculosis, malaria, lymphatic filariasis and other infectious diseases will determine whether new drugs, diagnostics, vaccines and other prevention tools can be deployed effectively and affordably at scale to eliminate these diseases from the world, an official of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said.

Speaking at a lecture organised by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and the AIIMS, Trevor Mundel, President of Global Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) threw light on India's role in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He said India due to its sheer size and population --nearly 20 per cent of the world population - will play a key role in determining whether the world achieves the SDGs, especially those in maternal and child health.

Mundel also emphasised the crucial role the country's rapidly emerging leadership in biotechnology and artificial intelligence can play in creating newer tools and technologies, which can help the country achieve health equity and take leadership in addressing global health challenges.

Regarding India's vaccine development capacity, the official said, "No other country among the world's emerging economies has the same combination of world-class biomedical research, effective translational research expertise, capacity to design and implement highly powered clinical trials, and capacity to produce health products that meet the stringent regulatory standards of the World Health Organization (WHO)."