G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting

 What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• News Summary: G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting
• Outcome of the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting
• India’s approach during the meeting

 

Why in news?

• The health ministers’ meeting under G20 ended in Gandhinagar with the adoption of the Indian Health Ministry spear-headed outcome document.
• The outcome document was agreed upon by all G20 delegations, except for a contentious paragraph on the ongoing war in Ukraine in the 25-point document. 

 

News Summary: G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting

Outcome of the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting

• Consensus around many areas
  • India’s G20 presidency has managed to build consensus on:
    • setting up an R&D and manufacturing network for vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, and
    • setting up a platform for making open-source, inter-operable digital solutions readily available.
• Global Initiative Digital Health launched
  • Global Initiative Digital Health — a platform for sharing digital goods and knowledge — was also launched at the meeting.
  • It will have four pillars
    • investment tracker,
    • ask tracker to track technologies the countries need,
    • a library of available digital tools, and
    • a platform for knowledge-sharing to implement these technologies at scale.
• On health emergency prevention preparedness and response
  • The priority on health emergency prevention preparedness and response ended with a commitment to negotiate a legally binding WHO convention, agreement, or other international instrument by May 2024.
• Need for improving the understanding of long COVID
  • Participants recognised the need for improving the understanding of long COVID, its consequences on individual, social and economic levels, as well as on post-COVID-related health services.
  • It noted the importance of surveillance and research in long COVID.
• Proposals of the Pandemic Fund
  • G20 countries noted that they continued to be committed to strengthening dialogue through the G20 Joint Finance-Health Task Force.
  • They welcomed the conclusion of the First Call for Proposals of the Pandemic Fund.
    • The proposals focus on the three priorities of the first Call, namely, strengthening disease surveillance, lab capacity, and the public health work force.
    • The Pandemic Fund will provide a dedicated stream of additional, long-term financing to strengthen critical HEPR capabilities in low-income and middle-income countries.
      • HEPR - health emergency preparedness, response and resilience.
    • The pandemic fund established during the previous G20 presidency has $2 billion now and proposals for funding have already been initiated.
• Highlighted the importance of strengthening national health systems
  • Participating countries reaffirmed the importance of strengthening national health systems by putting people at the centre of preparedness and equipping them to respond effectively.
  • They also recognised the importance of mainstreaming a gender perspective with a view to achieving gender equality in health systems.\
    • This would facilitate achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC), with an aim to strengthen primary health care and improve essential health services.
• Emphasis on One Health Approach
  • Expressing concern over rising cases of zoonotic diseases, the G20 member nations focused on integrating a collaborative and inclusive ‘One Health Approach’.
• Committed to address the nexus between climate change and health
  • The nations committed to:
    • prioritising climate-resilient health systems’ development;
    • building sustainable and low-carbon/low greenhouse gas emission health systems and healthcare supply chains that deliver high-quality healthcare;
    • mobilise resources for resilient, low-carbon sustainable health systems; and facilitating collaboration.
• Highlighted the potential role of evidence-based traditional and complementary medicine in health
  • Member countries recognised the potential role of evidence-based traditional and complementary medicine in health.
  • They took note of the WHO’s efforts in this direction, including global and collaborating centres, and clinical trial registries.
• Recognised the potential for innovative technologies in achieving healthcare objectives
  • It highlighted the potential for innovative technologies, including the use of the Internet of Things, big data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and machine learning, to support people’s health needs and achieve the goal of UHC.
• On Russia-Ukraine War
  • Agreement was not reached only on one paragraph of the documents on the Russia-Ukraine war.
    • Russia rejected its inclusion, contending that it does not conform to the G20 mandate.
    • China also stated that G20 is not the right platform to address security issues and opposed inclusion of the geopolitical-related content.

 

India’s approach during the meeting

• India successfully managed to bring consensus around the outcome document of G20 health ministers’ meeting.
  • There was specific consensus based on what India has brought on agenda.
• India’s G20 presidency has leveraged its experience on developing a national digital health architecture through the convergence of digital health interventions aimed at health systems strengthening through interoperability by design.
• There are four very clearly defined principles promoted by India during the meeting:
  • An interim platform on medical countermeasures should be based on an inclusive, consultative process — everyone should be consulted.
  • There should be an inclusive decision-making process to develop such countermeasures.
  • These measures should have effective representation of low- and middle-income countries in decision-making.
  • It should be convened by the WHO.
    • In India’s G20 presidency, India was very clear that WHO is a UN-mandated body to work on health.

 

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Q1) What is G20?

The G20, or Group of Twenty, is an international forum for governments and central bank governors from 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It was established in 1999 in response to the financial crises of the late 1990s as a platform for discussions on international financial stability and economic cooperation. The G20 member countries represent a significant portion of the world's economy, including both advanced and emerging economies.

 

Q2) What is Universal Health Coverage (UHC)?

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is a healthcare system goal and framework that aims to ensure that all individuals and communities have access to essential health services without suffering financial hardship. It is a vision for achieving equitable and affordable healthcare for everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status, geographic location, or other factors that might otherwise limit access to healthcare.

 

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Source: G20 health ministers’ meet ends with priorities of India receiving consensus | PIB | World Bank | The Hindu | Hindustan Times