Health policy should focus primarily on dealing with a pandemic. Therefore, a pandemic policy must be a defining part of health policy, as any health crisis today leads to an economic crisis due to the multi-sectoral nature of our interconnected world, said the Minister of State for Health of the Union, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar.
India G20 Presidency Meeting
In his address to the first meeting of the Health Task Force under the G20 Chairmanship of India, he noted that pandemic prevention, preparedness and response require various multi-agency and multi-sectoral coordinated efforts. He also stressed the need to strengthen and empower communities to become resilient to future health emergencies.
Need to strengthen pandemic policy
“COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic. Lessons learned should form the agenda for our joint preparedness and response. We need to diversify our capabilities and make sure that we collectively preserve ourselves in the face of any health crisis,” she said.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs V. Muraleedharan and NITI Aayog Member, Health, Dr. VK Paul, Dr. Arun Jaitley, was also present on the occasion.
Highlighting India’s strong culture of medical practice and innovation, Muraleedharan noted: “The Honorable Prime Minister’s call for One Earth, One Family, One Future is a pro-planet approach, one that is in harmony with nature to an increasingly globalized world. ”
He also emphasized the “need to align our preparedness and response agenda in order to effectively deal with any health emergency.”
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“We should be prepared to collectively face any future health challenges,” he said.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan highlighted India’s goal of achieving convergence in discussions in various multilateral fora dedicated to health cooperation, as chair of the G20 Presidency.
G20 health monitoring priorities
Reiterated three priorities for the G20 Health Track, namely Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (with a focus on One Health & AMR), Strengthening cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector with a focus on access and availability of services safe, effective, quality and Affordable Medical Countermeasures (Vaccines, Therapeutics and Diagnostics); and Digital Health Innovations and Solutions to Help Universal Health Coverage and Improve Healthcare Service Delivery.
The troika members from Indonesia and Brazil appreciated and congratulated the Indian presidency for setting the three health priorities. They affirmed that the pandemic has provided an opportunity to strengthen health systems, and the need today is to accelerate efforts to guarantee universal health coverage.
Source: IANS
