The COVID-19 pandemic would not be the last one and emergency preparedness required the building of resilient health systems across the world, said Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pawar in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, January 18. Speaking at the G20 Health Working Group meeting, she said it was essential to ally with emerging scientific evidence, diversify capacities and strengthen the early warning systems.
In her keynote address, she said that emergency preparedness was no longer an initiative in isolation, but rather "an overarching priority that requires efforts to build resilient health systems horizontally and vertically across the world.” The first Health Working Group meeting under G20 India Presidency will conclude on January 20. India assumed the presidency of the G20 on December 1, 2022. Pawar said the aim of the two-day meeting of the Working Health Group, would be to “realign our politics and policies. We must invest collectively and the investment must start today."
The Minister noted that the Indian presidency would aim to build on the efforts and proposals laid down by previous Health Working Groups and G20 leaders. "It will include strengthening our healthcare, prioritising one-health, emergency preparedness, ensuring equitable distribution of life-saving vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, and utilising digital health as an instrument to aid universal health coverage," she said.
She also said that the G20 countries had to develop a blueprint for a global health scheme and emergency management while avoiding duplication and fragmentation. "In effect, it involves states that speak to each other and supplement each other in safeguarding our well-being and empowering our communities to deal with future health emergency risks.
The viability of universal health coverage aided with digital innovation will be the key,” she said. Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan spoke about the strong public health tradition that Kerala has. He said that in 1813 a vaccination department was established in Thiruvananthapuram by the Travancore Queen Her Highness Rani Gouri Lakshmi bai.
"It was against smallpox. As people showed signs of fear against vaccination, the queen set herself as an example by getting all members of the Royal family vaccinated first, to reassure her subjects. That is our legacy and it is apt to have this meeting here," he said.
Muraleedharan recalled that Kerala had social reformers like Sree Narayana Guru, Chattambi Swamikal, and Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, all of whom stressed the point of education and health. "The modern Kerala model of health system evolved from this strong premise," he said. The Health Track of the G20 India Presidency will comprise four Health Working Group (HWG) Meetings and one Health Ministerial Meeting (HMM). The meetings will be held in different locations across the country including Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Goa, Hyderabad (Telangana) and Gandhinagar (Gujarat).