LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – The Covid-19 pandemic reminded the world of the old adage, “Health is like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it”. Life came to a standstill and people were gripped in the fear of infection or death when the virus hit the world.
We always find ourselves running around absolutely focused on earning a better dime and in doing that health takes the back seat. What we forget is the fact that there is a connection between economy and health and they are both essential pillars of a thriving nation.
The world seems to have woken up to this and decided to better prepare for a health catastrophe in future. Earlier this week, Indonesia held the first G20 Health Ministerial Meeting as well as the Joint Financial and Health Ministerial Meeting.
The Special Region of Yogyakarta hosted delegates from the 20 greatest economies in the world to debate ways to effectively avoid, prepare for, and respond to pandemics in the future. The G20 members have begun to build the international healthcare system and ensure prosperity and health for all.
Strengthening the global health system has been accomplished so far
The first Health Ministerial Meetings of the G20 have focused on five priority topics.
- Setting up the Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF)
The G20 has agreed to create a new Financial Intermediary Fund in order to move financial resources for the prevention, preparedness, and response (FIF) of a pandemic. This fund intends to close the estimated $10.5 billion funding gap required to properly respond to global health emergencies, which are most acutely felt by nations with low or middle income. Several nations and organisations have already contributed more than $1.1 billion to the FIF, and many more have promised to do so in the future.
- Permanent coordinating platform for distribution of emergency measures
The G20 member nations have agreed to collaborate closely with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to create a long-term coordination platform that will work to provide emergency medical countermeasures during health crises. We have all personally experienced the delays in the distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE), testing, and immunizations throughout the COVID-19 epidemic. We must draw lessons from this experience and proceed appropriately by establishing a permanent coordinating system that is prepared to offer an immediate and efficient response to any future health emergencies that may arise.
- Share global genomic data
G20 nations affirmed their support for the idea of sharing global genomic data, which has emerged as a crucial component of the group’s efforts to keep track of viruses of concern with pandemic potential. The current Health Minister of Indonesia, and this year’s chair of the G20’s health track intends to push for the creation of a global network of genetic monitoring labs in order to advance this accord. This network should be supported by stronger global data-sharing standards, protocols, and methods, all of which are the subject of ongoing G20 negotiations. This proposal will provide the data-sharing tools required for the worldwide scientific community to constantly be on the lookout for novel viruses, enabling governments to promptly and efficiently respond to emerging health related crises.
- Digital vaccine certificate verification system
There have been significant advancements made in the creation of digital vaccine certificate verification systems that are universally compatible for foreign travellers. This suggests that, in the not-too-distant future, foreign travellers may be able to confirm their vaccination status with a single QR code that can be read and processed in any location. A G20 pilot of this new system is already in the works. This is undoubtedly a step in the right direction to encourage global mobility and hasten the recovery of the world economy.
- Set -up research and manufacturing hubs
The G20 nations are becoming more open to the idea of establishing a global network of research and production centres for vaccinations, drugs, and diagnostics. Because of the uneven geographic distribution of research and manufacturing hubs in nations with high income, the low- and middle-income countries frequently suffer from the inability to create and provide medical treatments to their populations in a timely and equal manner. To ensure that no nation is left behind in future health crises, the G20 will do a lot by supporting a more equitable geographical distribution of these centres.
Mountains rise from earthquakes
Every crisis brings with it a good opportunity. In this instance, it is a chance for G20 members to work together to create a more robust global health architecture for coming generations. The optimistic initial actions that the G20 has decided to advance in order to better avoid, prepare for, and respond to global health crises are summarised in the paragraphs above. To maintain this momentum, the countries throughout the G20 along with the people will have to keep working tirelessly.
But because there is a little window of time before the G20 Leaders Summit in November, the minister urged all his counterparts to make use of it. To support the efforts to recover collectively and more effectively. He appealed to them to continue to make the required financial contributions, coordinate their efforts, share helpful information, and be as inclusive as they could.
