G20 Health Ministers call for building equitable access to affordable medicines for all

The G20 Health Ministers meeting saw consensus on building more resilient, equitable and inclusive health systems with equitable access to safe, quality-assured and affordable vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other medical countermeasures, especially in low and middle income countries and small island developing states.

             
The outcome document comprises 25 paragraphs, which were unanimously agreed to by all G20 delegations, except for paragraph 22, which pertains to the chair’s summary, and was focused on the geopolitical situation in Ukraine.

According to the outcome document released after the meet in Gandhinagar on August 19, consensus was built on setting up research and development and manufacturing network for vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, along with setting up a platform for making open-source and inter-operable digital solutions readily available.

    
The health ministers also look forward to a successful outcome of the ongoing negotiations in the inter-governmental negotiating body (INB) for a legally binding WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention preparedness and response, by May 2024.  

The health ministers recognised the need to enhance the resilience of health systems against the impact of climate change and committed to prioritising climate-resilient health systems development, building sustainable and low-carbon/low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission health systems and healthcare supply chains that deliver high-quality healthcare,
mobilise resources for resilient, low-carbon sustainable health systems, and facilitate collaboration, sources said.

The G20 members committed to tackling AMR (antimicrobial resistance) comprehensively following the One Health approach through strengthening multi-sectoral governance, coordination; research and development (R&D); infection prevention and control (IPC); water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); improving awareness of AMR; promoting responsible
use of antimicrobials, including preserving the existing therapeutics across humans, animals and plant sectors through antimicrobial stewardship.

They also recognised the potential role of evidence-based traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM), and take note of WHO’s efforts in this direction, including global and collaborating centres, and clinical trial registries, sources said. They acknowledged the potential of evidence-based T&CM practices in public health delivery systems, provided they are rigorously and scientifically validated to be safe and effective as per WHO TM Strategy 2014-23, extended till 2025.