The Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the fault lines in existing global health architecture, underlining the need for a more robust, inclusive and responsive global health architecture, while maintaining the centrality of the WHO, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Saturday.

“Bridging the digital divide through the promotion of digital public goods to support health service delivery is critical to ensure that fruits of technology are made available to all and to aid and augment health response capacities,” he said, while addressing the G7 Health Ministerial meeting on Global Health Architecture in Nagasaki, Japan.

The meeting was held to discuss global health challenges and ways to ensure preparedness, prevention and response to future health emergencies. The health ministers of the G7 countries and invited “Outreach 4” countries of India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand attended the meeting.

Mandaviya stated that “when it comes to managing any health emergency, any country’s national health system is heavily dependent on the global health system.” He cautioned against fragmented and siloed efforts in addressing the challenges faced by the world and underlined the need for collaborative efforts to ensure global health security, including a specific focus on promoting health equity.

He noted that while multiple global efforts were underway, there was a need to ensure the convergence of these ongoing initiatives. On this note, he appreciated that the health agendas under the G20 India Presidency and the G7 Japan Presidency were perfectly aligned and have collectively prioritised health emergency preparedness, access to medical countermeasures and digital health to achieve universal health coverage & innovation.

Mandaviya also emphasised the role of digital solutions and the use of technology in ensuring continuity of care amidst multiple challenges posed by the pandemic. He stated that “bridging the digital divide through the promotion of Digital Public Goods to support health service delivery is critical to ensure that fruits of technology are made available to all and to aid and augment health response capacities”.

On India’s G20 Presidency, the Indian minister informed that priority has been given towards building consensus for converging global efforts to address any health emergencies and ensure the availability of medical countermeasures to all the countries during any health emergency, with a specific focus on affordability and ensuring equitable availability.