Context– Recently the second meeting of the health working group for G20 began in Goa.
Focus areas of discussion
discussions will continue on the three priorities set by the Indian presidency –
- Tackling future health emergencies,
- Building a manufacturing network of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics, and
- Leveraging digital solutions to provide universal health coverage.
Three technical sessions were held on the first day of the meeting
- The first session focused on health emergency prevention, preparedness and response, with delegates discussing collaborative surveillance systems supported by advanced networks of laboratories and relevant infrastructure.
- The discussion also centred on embedding anti-microbial resistance as part of any health emergency governance system and it being complementary to such ongoing efforts at various levels of government.
- The second session focused on creating better collaborations at various levels for access and availability of safe, effective, and quality medical countermeasures.
- The discussions centred on methods such as public-private partnerships, and international collaborations through a network-of-networks platform.
- In the third session, a discussion on the draft outcome document was done exclusively among G20 member states in an hour-long session afterwards.
- It was emphasised that any consensus must be built through measures that are evidence-based, inclusive, fair, equitable, transparent and need-based.
India’s proposals
- With plugging the gap of inequitable access and creating a global manufacturing network for medical countermeasures – vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics – being priorities for the health working group, India is likely to raise the issue of intellectual property rights during a public health emergency.
- The discussion is likely to focus on voluntary licensing and technology transfer by pharmaceutical companies, according to officials in the know of the matter.
- For digital health, India is likely to propose a digital toolbox under an intra-government agency like the World Health Organization that can be accessed by other countries as per their need India will open up its teleconsultation platform eSanjeevani to all, just like it offered the vaccine management system CoWIN previously.
- India focused on the need for collaborative surveillance, community protection, safe and scalable care, access to medical countermeasures and emergency coordination.
- focus on reducing the drivers of pandemic risk, to prevent them before they emerge, surveillance, lab systems and strengthening the public health workforce”.
