Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya underlined the need for collaborative efforts to ensure global health security
While calling for strengthening global health architecture, India’s Minister of Health, and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya in his speech at the inaugural session of G7 Health Ministers’ meeting in Nagasaki in Japan on Saturday warned against fragmented and siloed efforts in addressing the challenges faced by the world.

“When it comes to managing any health emergency, any country’s national health system is heavily dependent on the global health system…. the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to forefront the fault lines in existing global health architecture,” Mandaviya said, while emphasizing the need for a “more robust, inclusive, & responsive Global Health Architecture, while maintaining centrality of the WHO.”

He voiced his concern on the high level of global inequity in access to medical countermeasures by highlighting that the COVID-19 vaccination programme started in December 2020, but even after more than 2 years, only 34% of population in low-and-middle-income countries has access to COVID-19 vaccination, compared to 73% in high-income countries as on April 2023.

He underlined the need for collaborative efforts to ensure global health security including a specific focus on promoting health equity.

The Indian Health Minister called for the convergence of all global efforts towards health, while maintaining that the health agendas under the G20 India Presidency and the G7 Japan Presidency are perfectly aligned which have collectively prioritized health emergency preparedness, access to medical countermeasures and digital health to achieve universal health coverage and innovation.

Mandaviya also emphasized on the role of digital solutions and use of technology in ensuring continuity of care amidst multiple challenges posed by the pandemic.

He stated that “bridging digital divide through 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, he informed G7 Health Ministers that priority has been given towards building consensus for converging global efforts to address any health emergencies and ensure availability of medical countermeasures to all the countries during any health emergency, with specific focus on affordability and ensuring equitable availability.

The theme of India’s G20 Presidency – One Earth, One Family, One Future, he said, is based on Indian philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” meaning the Whole World is One Family which exhorts us to work collectively and through an inclusive approach.

The two-day (May 13-14) G7 Health Ministers’ Meeting in Nagasaki is being participated by health ministers from Japan, the US, Canada, France, the UK, Italy, Germany and four outreach countries of India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.