India’s ‘Vaccine Maitri’ campaign supported several countries during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the G20 presidency will help the country formulate better frameworks in healthcare, chief of Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), a Singapore-based funders network for impact investing, has told News18.
AVPN is the official impact partner of the upcoming G20 Summit from November 15-16 to be held in Bali, Indonesia.
According to Tristan Ace, chief programme officer at AVPN, the Indian pharmaceutical sector working together with the government demonstrated the possibilities that can be achieved when private sector expertise and manufacturing capabilities are combined with the government support and digital infrastructure.
In an interview with News18, when asked about his assessment of how India handled the outbreak of Covid-19, Ace said, “Going forward, for pandemic preparedness, G20 and Asian countries are required to work together on local frameworks to strengthen public health systems and focus on prevention as much as the quality of care.”
“India has managed to fully vaccinate almost 70% of the population, which is a humongous feat for a country of a billion-plus people,” he said.
Ace believes there is an “untapped potential” in the private and philanthropic sectors to finance health efforts, and “these countries should consider how to build new and innovative partnerships for development”.
Edited excerpts from the interview:
Q: How is the G20 working to drive healthcare for all, particularly in developing countries? What is the role of agencies like AVPN in facilitating this work?
A: Since the Covid-19 pandemic, governments across the world have been engaging with multiple pandemic-related responses. There has been an increased pressure on health systems across the world, exacerbating existing resource and capacity constraints. To guarantee health quality and efficiency for all, it is necessary for health systems to substantially increase their preparedness capabilities to be able to respond to crises while strengthening their core primary functions.
The G20, which includes the world’s largest economies, is critically important for determining impactful economic and policy outcomes for collective progress. The member states have time and again come up with tangible solutions and best practices that can be incorporated by the whole world community.
Social Investment networks AVPN can help increase the flow of impact capital towards achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Asia.
Q: Which are the pockets within the Indian health sector that require particular attention of the G20?
A: India has shown strong leadership during the pandemic, and the G20, 2023 presidency will be instrumental in formulating better frameworks for the healthcare sector.
Via the G20 presidency, India’s efforts in digitising healthcare, ensuring comprehensive insurance coverage, and incubating social impact enterprises in health can also prove to be a learning for other Asian countries and indeed countries around the world. India’s start-up scene is incredibly vibrant and offers great potential to identify the solutions to global health challenges.
The pockets within the Indian health sector that require particular attention of the G20 are comprehensive primary health care with a focus on vulnerable populations, eliminating TB, promoting better nutrition among maternal, newborn and child health.
Q: How India can leverage G20 presidency?
A: India can leverage the G20 presidency to explore further blended financing opportunities with the member states to work towards providing last mile health solutions through digitising the health ecosystem. The G20 presidency and the related commitments made by India should also provide an impetus to social entrepreneurship in healthcare.
Q: What are the challenges that we face in garnering development funding for the health sector in developing countries?
A: If one is to go by the present geopolitical scenario, it’s clear that government budgets are focused on addressing emergencies like natural disasters, war, and pandemic control rather than building the long term, resilient systems that will set up societies to adapt to and deal with these challenges. There needs to be significant investment now, to build strong healthcare systems for the future.
Some of the challenges that the emerging economies are facing in garnering development funding for the health sector include impact of climate change on health which is a very big challenge that Asian countries are not prepared for. For instance: increasing air pollution leading to chronic illnesses. Other challenge is that the equity in health care is an increasingly important issue that requires cooperation between countries as we saw in the case of vaccine availability in the pandemic.
Therefore, to earn more capital to address these issues, governments should look at facilitating public-private partnerships within the healthcare sector.
The government can also explore innovative blended financing mechanisms and integrate market-based approaches to give more choices to citizens and reduce out of pocket expenditures.
Q: As the world recovers from the pandemic, how has the role of institutions like the G20 changed and what new responsibilities are they expected to fulfil?
A: As we recover from the pandemic, multilateral forums like the G20 are important if we want to come up with innovative ideas to support global cooperation.
There is a deep need for the G20 to focus on climate financing and adaptation urgently along with addressing other pressing issues like healthcare preparedness, global food, and energy security, as well as issues like gender inclusion.
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