New Delhi (NVI): As part of its efforts to take India closer to the ambitious global Sustainable Development Goals-2030, government today organised a ‘World Conference” to discuss access to essential medicines and medical products in national and international perspective.
The 3-day conference, which was inaugurated by Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan here, is being participated by Union Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Bangladesh Health Minister Zahid Maleque, Bhutan’s Health Minister Lyonpo Dechen Wangmo, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health Upendra Yadav, and Nepal Minister V K Paul along with members of Niti Aayog among other dignitaries.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO, joined the conference through a video message. The conference will focus on creating an enabling legal and trade environment for public health which are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda.
Following the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the 2019 World Conference organised here, seeks to take forward the international and national agenda on access to medical products. Access to essential medicines is a priority in the Regional Flagships on UHC for the South-East Asia Region.
The main objective of the 2019 World Conference is to track the progress on recommendations from the 2018 World Conference for access to medical products for achieving UHC in the context of SDGs.
The conference was told that recommendations made at the two previous World Conferences are being pursued at the international and national level by key ministries in India.
The conference has been designed as a forum to take these discussions further for access to medical products on the themes of ‘UHC and innovation’, ‘Regulation of medical products and access’ and ‘Legal landscape and trade-related aspects in the context of access to medical products’, an official statement said.
Inaugurating the conference, Dr. Vardhan said, “Let us develop a robust system of knowledge sharing & practical translation of discussions held for larger public welfare.”
“The discussions and knowledge sharing from this world conference need to be utilized for larger public welfare. We must optimally develop a robust system of sharing knowledge & other resources to practically translate discussions from this platform into action” said Vardhan.
Stating that under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister health has taken a centre stage among all policy decisions and programs, Vardhan said, “Efficient healthcare delivery systems providing equitable, affordable and easily accessible healthcare is at the heart of all our efforts. This World Conference thus takes prominence for all of us across the world thinking about path-breaking technologies of healthcare.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO, joined the conference through a video message said, “The commitment of WHO to affordability and availability of medical products to people around the world, adding that “With the increasing burden of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs), the need for long term treatment, and the ensuing healthcare cost have increased.”
“In addition, ageing population creates demand for more affordable assisted technologies. Advances in medical technologies every day gives hope to people for better healthcare. This simultaneously increases the pressure for providing affordable medical care. Through our efforts we shall continue to put people first,” he further stated.
The inaugural event has marked the releases of various publications such as Position Paper-2019 World Conference on Access to Medical Products–Achieving the SDGs 2030’, White Paper on Safety of Rotavirus Vaccine in India: Smart Safety Surveillance Approach’ and the ‘National Guidelines for Gene Therapy Product Development and Clinical Trials’.
