Apurva Chandra, Union Health Secretary addressed the Committee A of the World Health Assembly (WHA), in Geneva on May 27, informed a report by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). WHA comprises of sessions in three main committees, which are Plenary, Committee A and Committee B. Committee A will be chaired by India and facilitate discussion on various programmatic topics covering Universal Health Coverage, Public Health Emergency preparedness and response, antimicrobial resistance, climate change, sustainable financing for WHO etc.
The Union Health Secretary started his address by highlighting the alignment of the World Health Assembly’s theme this year – “All for Health, Health for All”, with the core values and the ethos of India, that is “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” which means “the world is one family”. He said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, India not only managed the crises within the country but also supplied medicines and health related products across the world embodying the spirit of “One World, One family”. “This philosophy guides our efforts to promote well-being for all, facilitate Universal Healthcare Coverage and achieve health-related Sustainable Development Goals”, he stated.
Apurva Chandra stated that the traditional public health approach of focusing on community interventions such as information and awareness as well as preventive measures hold the key to better health outcomes. He informed that India has established Health & Wellness Centres to not only address health issues at the community level but to also focus on educating communities towards better health seeking behaviour. “At this critical juncture, when all countries are working towards our collective Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring health services for all so that no one gets left behind, India has been taking the lead in advocating for digital health innovations as key to the critical transformative process required to help us achieve our goals”, he further stated.
Apurva Chandra, Union Health Secretary also chaired a high-level meeting on “Advancing Health and Well-Being of Billions in WHO South-East Asia Region”, a side-event to the 77th World Health Assembly co-hosted by WHO Regional Office for Southeast Asia (SEARO) and Government of India, in Geneva today. The purpose of the meeting was to strategize concerted actions of Member States, WHO and Partners in addressing key public health agenda in Southeast Asia Region.
The meeting started with a video on India’s Health Journey showcasing the four pillars of Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Mission catalysing the access to universal health coverage for citizens in India.
Download Nagaland Tribune app on Google Play
Addressing the gathering, the Union Health Secretary highlighted the digital technologies being leveraged by India during COVID which like CoWIN, are today being transformed to UWIN, a digital platform for tracking immunization and creation of digital certificate for every child. He emphasized how India, by being the pharma capital of the world is providing strength to the SEARO region on affordable medical counter measures.
During the occasion, Chandra also highlighted the BHISM cube, an innovative product developed under India’s Aarogya Maitri Project which is compact, modular medical aid cube designed to treat up to 200 casualties and equipped with cutting edge technology that can be deployed during any disasters and emergencies.
Various interventions were made by member states on the need for strengthening cooperation and collaboration with other countries, on issues like vaccination catch-up and vaccine delivery and non-communicable diseases etc. There were also issues raised by other partners such as on strengthening health system preparedness for health emergencies, post-pandemic recovery & dealing with climate crisis, ageing population and compounding mental health issues, decentralization of health issues to provincial and district level and on strengthening pandemic preparedness response and Health security.
Hekali Zhimomi, Addl. Secretary, Union Health Ministry; Aradhana Patnaik, Addl. Secretary and Managing Director (NHM), Union Health Ministry; Dr. Basant Garg, Addl. CEO, National Health Authority; Arindam Bagchi, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva; Saima Wazed, Regional Director, WHO SEARO; representatives from member states of WHO SEARO; representatives from key development partners active in Southeast Asia region and WHO Senior management and Secretariat were also present on the occasion.
