Why in News?

• All three health priorities of India’s G20 presidency found a mention in the G20 New Delhi Leader’s Declaration.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• India’s Health Priorities (Outline, Incorporation in G20 declaration)
• Interim Health Platform
• Traditional Medicine (Reference in G20 declaration)

What were India’s Top 3 Health Priorities?

• India’s top 3 health priorities were in line with the economic and social disruption caused by Covid-19 pandemic and what could be done to prevent such loses further.
• The three priorities included:
  • Building resilient systems for health emergency prevention, preparedness and response.
  • Strengthening cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector with focus on ensuring equitable availability and access to vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics during a pandemic.
  • Creating a platform for sharing digital health innovations and solutions to ensure better and universal health coverage, like CoWIN and e-Sanjeevani.

Incorporation of India’s Health Priorities in G20 Declaration:

• At the G20 meeting held in New Delhi under India’s Presidency, the member states agreed to a joint statement.
• With reference to health priorities set by India, a general consensus was reached by the member countries (with some compromises).
  • For example, India did not insist on countries contributing towards a $200-million fund for a digital health programme, or on a permanent platform for sharing knowledge, intellectual property rights, and resources for vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.

About Digital Health Programme:

• With the pandemic highlighting the importance of digital health innovation, India committed to developing a platform for sharing scalable solutions under the World Health Organisation (WHO) that can be utilized by its member states.
• This culminated in the launch of Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH).
  • The GIDH comprises of –
    • an investment tracker,
    • a repository of existing digital health solutions, knowledge sharing for implementation & country-specific adaptation of these solutions, and
    • an ask tracker to monitor the needs of different countries.
  • India has committed to offering its vaccine management platform CoWIN, its tele-medicine platform e-Sanjeevani, and its Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission platform as digital public goods to others.

An Interim Medical Countermeasure Platform:

• There was no consensus on creating a permanent platform for ensuring equitable access to medical countermeasures during a pandemic.
• However, the committees agreed to develop an interim platform to promote an end-to-end network for research and manufacturing them till a legally binding pandemic treaty can be agreed upon.
• The outcome document said that the interim platform should be led by an inclusive decision-making arrangement, including effective representation of low- and middle-income countries, and convened by the WHO.
• Although there is in principle agreement by the G20 member countries on the need for such a platform, there is no clarity yet on how soon the platform can be developed.

Traditional Medicines:

• India’s G20 presidency also pushed for integration of evidence-based traditional medicine practices with modern medicine.
• A global summit on traditional medicine was hosted on the sidelines of the G20 health ministers’ meeting last month.
• The G20 outcome document acknowledges the potential of evidence-based traditional and complementary medicine practices in public health delivery systems, provided they are rigorously and scientifically validated.