The G20 Health Minister’s Meeting on Saturday adopted unanimously an Outcome Document reaffirming commitment of G20 countries to continue strengthening global health architecture.
The two-day Meeting that concluded today in Gandhinagar in western Indian state of Gujarat adopted an Outcome Document to address ongoing global health challenges and future public health emergencies, THE Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement.
“Building on the lessons from COVID 19 pandemic, we arrived at a consensus to build more resilient, equitable, sustainable and inclusive health systems equipped to address ongoing global health challenges and future public health emergencies with equitable access to safe, effective, quality-assured and affordable vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other medical countermeasures, especially in Low-and Middle-income Countries and Small Island Developing States,” the document said.
The G20 countries also stressed the importance of enhancing national health systems by bringing people to the centre of preparedness and equipping them to respond effectively.
The document also suggested measures to achieve gender equality in health systems and to address specific needs of women and girls while designing global health decisions.
The G20 countries also affirmed the need to converge, consolidate, and create a healthier future and strengthen national health systems especially in the backdrop of lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. The G20 nations supported a WHO-led inclusive consultative process for the development of an interim medical countermeasures coordination mechanism.
The ministers also committed to support the WHO’s efforts to establish the Global Initiative on Digital Health which will support the implementation of WHO member-states’ endorsed WHO’s Global Digital Health Strategy 2020-2025. They also agreed to prioritize climate-resilient health systems development, building sustainable and low-carbon emission health systems and healthcare supply chains.
During the meeting, Global Initiative on Digital Health was launched and the first Joint Finance and Health Ministerial under the Indian G20 Presidency was also held.
The two-day meeting was attended by around 70 representatives including G20 health ministers and WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus and other global health leaders.
Source: Kuwait News Agency