India’s nominee and Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has taken charge as chairman of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board this week when the international body is going through a critical phase facing a pandemic as well as a funds crunch.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has added more responsibility on the organization in coming months, and certainly until a vaccine is discovered. As chairman of the board, Vardhan will not only be responsible to implement the decisions and policies of the Health Assembly but also advise and facilitate its work.
India has always played a role in world health, and India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was among those who supported the establishment of WHO in 1948. It was founded to coordinate and improve public health and eradication of poverty and disease in the world. The present Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been under a cloud for endorsing Chinese claims in January that the novel coronavirus virus was not contagious among humans.
Vardhan will have a difficult task of tightrope walking, as many members including US President Donald Trump and others have demanded reforms and transparency in the world body. India too has joined the chorus as Prime Minister Narendra Modi echoed the sentiments expressed by Trump said there was need to strengthen and reform the WHO in his speech at the virtual meeting of the G-20 in March. He suggested empowering the international body in terms of its early warning capacity and development of effective vaccines.
India wants transparency and accountability in respect of the Covid-19 outbreak and reforms in the WHO. This week in a virtual meeting of the World Health Assembly, world leaders backed a resolution, drafted and promoted by the European Union calling for an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the pandemic, including the actions of the WHO.
The US claimed that the resolution was the “first critical step” in improving the organization. Welcoming the resolution, its Director General Dr Ghebreyesus said that an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” would happen “at the earliest appropriate moment.” Secondly, India should be cautious not to get caught in the confrontation between the US and China on the origin of the pandemic.
Trump has been calling it the ‘Wuhan virus’, which has upset Beijing. Washington even tried to push New Delhi through its diplomatic channels to come down heavily on China. As chairman of the executive board it will be Vardhan’s responsibility to take effective and credible steps to show the unbiased functioning of the WHO. Thirdly, now New Delhi will have more opportunity to wield power in an international organization that has been perceived to be pro-China and play a unique role.
No doubt that this will be a good opportunity for India to show enterprise and innovation to bring about changes and design how to deal with future pandemics. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla noted, “The objective would be to promote new crisis- management protocols and procedures for our inter-connected global village and develop more adaptive, responsive, affordable and humane health care systems and resources that can be deployed globally.”
Vardhan has many challenges ahead. India will play a crucial role as a member of the programme budget and administration committee, replacing Indonesia. WHO needs funds now more than ever as the US has put on hold its contribution for what it called the organization’s failed response to Covid. But to meet the resource crunch, Beijing has pledged $2 billion to the world body in this week’s meeting.
Secondly, as the current board chairman, India will have a say in shortlisting candidates for the next WHO Director General in May 2021. It is the job of the executive board to interview candidates and decide who would run for the office. Thirdly, while taking over on Friday, and realising the daunting task, Vardhan made it clear that the challenges at this time needed a shared global response.
Acknowledging that Covid-19 is a great human tragedy and the next two decades may see many such challenges, he stated, “All these challenges demand a shared response because these are shared threats requiring a shared responsibility to act.” Towards the end of his speech, Vardhan also initiated a standing ovation by the board for all the Covid warriors across the globe, which went down well.
Harsh Vardhan, himself a doctor and an administrator with proven experience in dealing with epidemics, now has a unique opportunity to bring India to the high table in the world body and fulfil Prime Minister Modi’s goal to strengthen, modernize and reform the WHO, in a way it is suited to 21st century requirements. This is the time to prove India’s health diplomacy to the world.