Minister Of Health: The Pandemic Will Not End Without Equitable Research And Manufacturing

PIXABAY ILLUSTRATION

NUSA DUA - Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin said the completion of the COVID-19 pandemic needed to be supported by equitable and equitable health research and manufacturing capacities throughout the world.

"Because when a pandemic occurs, if there is no capacity that is evenly distributed throughout the world, the pandemic will not end," said Budi Gunadi Sadikin at a press conference in Nusa Dua, Bali, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, August 22.

Scientifically, he said, infectious diseases have the potential to trigger repeated waves of pandemics when they are carried by travelers to various countries and interactions occur. In fact, several countries, such as the United States, have repeatedly experienced waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The concept is, all human beings in the world must be treated. That's the principle of a pandemic," he said.

Therefore, Indonesia encourages the development of research capacity, drug production, and medical devices in all countries through the G20 Forum.

"It is impossible for one country to solve a global pandemic. Because the transmission occurs across countries," continued the Minister of Health.

The Minister of Health said the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that unfair capacity to develop and manufacture vaccines, treatments and diagnostics worldwide, is causing delays in meeting rapid global demand during health emergencies.

"As the COVID-19 pandemic begins to subside globally, there is no better time than now to work on ensuring not only fair, but also equitable access to developing vaccines, therapies and diagnostic tools globally," he said.

Throughout 2022, continued Budi Gunadi, Indonesia has contributed to strengthening the global health architecture through three main agendas.

First, strengthen the resilience of the global health system which results in the availability of financial resources, access to emergency medical action, as well as building a global network of genome surveillance laboratories and strengthening reliable data sharing mechanisms.

The second agenda is to harmonize global health protocol standards that produce vaccine certificates that are mutually recognized between countries for international travellers.

Meanwhile, on the third agenda discussed at the 3rd Health Working Group (HWG) in Bali August 22-24 2022, the main issue was expanding global manufacturing and research centers for pandemics, prevention, preparedness and response (PPR).

"The result to be achieved is the expansion of global manufacturing and research centers for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response," said the Minister of Health.