India’s G20 Presidency has come at a critical time when the world is passing through a historical moment. Given the stature of Narendra Modi as the world’s most sought-after statesman and the leader of G20, the world is looking at India for defining the pathway for the world to pass through a churn. World peace, health, education, and digital infrastructure remain the overarching themes; among them, health occupies an important position. India has released its G20 priorities:
- Health emergencies, prevention and preparedness, and response
- Strengthening cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector
- Digital health innovations and solutions to aid Universal Health Coverage
While these priorities are a good start, given the ground realities and our experience during Covid, it will be good to reconsider and re-calibrate some of the priorities.
One Health
Major global disease outbreaks over the past two decades have come from animals and environmental factors will be a key reason for significant health challenges in these decades. This should spotlight ‘One Health’ as an essential topic. Without One Health, there is no healthcare. We must focus on 3S- Scientific Research, Surveillance, and Supply Chains. We have seen how a few global companies ramped up R&D to develop a Covid vaccine in a record time and supplied the world to save millions of lives, so the G20 needs to focus on setting the global supply chains to cater to any emergency. All such agenda falls under ‘One Health’, which needs to be added to the G20 agenda.
Mental Health
At Health Parliament, we studied among students across India. We were shocked to learn that 99 percent of those surveyed had issues with mental well-being and therefore, we recommended the mental health helpline. As the world moves ahead with generative AI and automation, job losses and economic disparities will result in aggravating mental health issues, and this will affect every family and bring down human productivity. According to UNICEF’s State of World’s Children 2021- 20 percent of children have mild mental health impairments. Mental health issues will increase with time, and addressing mental well-being should be a focused topic of G20. Mental health is missing in the central theme of G20.
Children’s Health
For this generation, we are already late, and ageing Japan has a lesson for the world; if we don’t address the issues of children’s health now, we are inviting an irreversible health disaster. We need to focus on the ‘pre-emptive care model’ to pre-empt the occurrence of diseases starting with school health as mentioned in India’s National Health Policy 2017, and move one step ahead of preventive care; pre-emptive care. Investment in children’s health has a disproportionately high financial return regarding productivity and enhanced wages of adults, so the world needs to move the needle to child health. Children’s health needs to be added to the G20 agenda.
Primary Care & Digital Health
45 years ago, at Alma Ata, healthcare leaders worldwide promised ‘primary care for all by 2000’, and we are far from it. In 2028, when we celebrate 50 years of Alma Ata, what do we tell the world – that we failed to deliver even primary care to all? Are we all slogan-mongering leaders? It is time that we at least pledge to provide ‘Digital Health for All by 2028.’ India has shown the world how to do it. So, we must take primary care from physical centres to the hands of the population through mobile phones. India was the first country to have put a comprehensive resolution on mHealth at the WHO Executive Board in 2016, which was unanimously adopted. Now, India is a world leader in digital health through Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. The world can learn from India’s success story, so primary care and digital health should be joint priorities for the G20 Health agenda, not just digital health alone.
When Prime Minister Modi speaks, the world listens, and he has rightly set the mission of India’s G20 Presidency to ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, so, when he delivers his Presidential address, the world will see a pathway for the future. The G20 Health Working Group needs to set an agenda that is inclusive and will help address the basics with a five-point agenda focusing on One Health, Mental Health, Children’s Health, Primary Care and Digital Health.
India must set up a billion-dollar fund to help Low- or Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) in scoping and scaling up primary care through digital health. This five-point agenda will have a lasting impact on improving health and addressing how WHO defines health, i.e., ‘health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.’
The author is the chairman of the Dynamic Coalition on Digital Health at the United Nations IGF and leads the global health think tank – Health Parliament. He was the advisor to the Union Health Minister, Government of India from 2016-2018 and played a key role in shaping the national health policy. He tweets @rajendragupta. Views expressed are personal.
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