Your Excellency, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Chemical and Fertilizers, Government of India; Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Hon’ble Minister of Ayush and Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India; Excellencies from the G20 and invited and guest countries,
Good afternoon and my sincere gratitude to the Government of India and my utmost appreciation for the message at the heart of India’s G20 Presidency – Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: One Earth. One Family. One Future.
Today, in the shadow of the deadliest, most disruptive health crisis in more than a century, it is a message that the world must not just hear but act on – and act on decisively.
Inequitable access to essential health services – and quality, integrated and people-centred health service delivery – is a threat to the health and well-being not just of individuals, families and communities, but of countries and regions, of the whole of humanity.
For it is precisely these services – primary health care services – that are at the core of health system resilience, and which are the first line of protection against outbreaks of new and emerging diseases, and other acute health threats.
But as WHO’s founding Constitution lays bare, inequitable access to essential, quality and resilient health services is also a major barrier to fulfilling every person’s right to the highest attainable standard of health – a right that for 75 years, WHO has vigorously pursued.
In other words, it is a common danger and a shared injustice.
However, today, we have a historic opportunity to break path, to reset and to heal.
To mobilise the highest level of international and global solidarity in support of equitable health service delivery, not for some people in some countries, but for all people in every country.
I highlight four opportunities.
First, let us increase collaboration and reduce fragmentation in national, regional and global efforts to reorient health systems towards primary health care, the most efficient and equitable way to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) and health security.
For this, next month’s UN General Assembly High-level Meeting on UHC provides a critical platform not only to learn and to share, but to accelerate progress based on common priorities and a clear and actionable path forward.
Second, let us intensify stakeholder support for the development and adoption of appropriate, accessible, affordable, scalable and sustainable digital health solutions.
For this, let us leverage the full potential of the Global Initiative on Digital Health, a WHO-managed network that aims to facilitate implementation of the WHO Global Strategy on Digital Health 2020–2025.
Third, let us mobilize increased, smarter investments in health system infrastructure, with a focus on ensuring that all countries can sustain an adequate supply of competent and motivated health and care workers – the backbone of every health system.
And let us also improve national capacity to navigate cross-border trade and its impact on health, especially for the ethical and sustainable management of global health workforce migration, as well as cross-border consumption of health services.
Finally, let us accelerate action to better integrate safe, effective and evidence-based traditional medicine and practices into formal health systems, in alignment with both the 1978 Declaration of Alma Ata and the 2018 Declaration of Astana.
Excellencies, partners and friends,
Today, we call for action:
To improve global health equity;
To transform global health outcomes;
To achieve a healthier, safer, better prepared and protected world.
Together, let us answer that call, bending history to our will.
I thank you.