Indonesia G20 will strive to expand the development of a global health manufacturing and research center in preparation to prevent and respond to the pandemic in future, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated.
“To strengthen global health, we need to equally redistribute research and manufacturing capability toward vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics,” he noted.
During a press conference for the G20 Health Working Group (HWG) meeting titled “Harmonizing Global Health Protocol Standards” here on Monday, Sadikin noted that vaccine, therapeutic, and diagnostic equality were crucial health aspects during the pandemic.
Research and manufacturing capability should ideally exist in various nations and not just in advanced nations or countries with high income. This means the knowledge redistribution process is necessary, he stated.
For the G20 Presidency, Sadikin highlighted three agendas in the health sector. These agendas also became topics that President Joko Widodo had requested.
The first agenda concerns building the global health system resiliency. The second involves harmonizing global health protocol standards to ensure similar standards on regulations related to PCR, quarantine, and others.
The third relates to developing global manufacturing and knowledge center for the prevention, preparation, and response to the pandemic.
“For the working group, the topics of global health resiliency system and redistribution of the global manufacturing and knowledge center for the prevention, preparation, and response to the pandemic will have their own session,” he explained.
Earlier, the Health Ministry’s official, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, stated that through the G20, Indonesia will encourage development of the health manufacturing and study center in developing countries.
“For now, we strengthen global relations among scientists in virology, immunology, epidemiology, and other branches related to the health crisis,” she noted.
Source: Antara News