G20 presidency: Tackling emergencies in health focus, India seeking to be voice of global south

“With the current troika being all developing countries, it is the apt time for India to raise issues of the global south,” one official said, referring to developing countries at the helm of the grouping in the “previous, current and next” years.

“As we saw during the Covid pandemic, even when the vaccine manufacturing was scaled up, developed countries purchased more by several folds than their requirement, while several countries remained without (vaccines). We will call for equity for the global south,” the official added.

The health track of the G20 Summit will meet four times throughout the year, with the fourth meeting attended by the health ministers of the member countries. The health meetings will be convened in Trivandrum (Kerala) between January 18 and 20; in Goa between April 17 and 19; in Hyderabad (Telangana) between June 4 and 6, and in Gandhinagar (Gujarat) between August 17 and 19.

There will also be side events such as a summit by the WHO and the AYUSH ministry’s Global Centre for Traditional Medicines.

At the Summit meetings, India will showcase its Covid-19 management, the official said, apart from medical access and affordability initiatives such as Jan Aushadhi, under which over 9,000 medical stores across the country ensure access to 1,759 cheaper generic medicines.

India will use the pharmaceutical agenda to promote distributed manufacturing of vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics globally, the official said.