India hosts joint meet of finance, health ministers

India on Saturday conducted a joint meeting of finance and health ministers from G20 member countries in Gandhinagar district of Gujarat where participants welcomed the multi-year work plan of the task force, approved under the Indian Presidency.

The meeting, co-chaired Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya and WHO director general Tedros Ghebreyesus, agreed on continuously strengthening the global health architecture to prevent any pandemic in the future and ensure preparedness and response (PPR) through enhanced collaboration among the two ministries.

Some of the views expressed by countries in the discussions were those that are suggestive of future course for the task force, including but not limited to, development of an operational play book to ensure swift and adequate pandemic response financing; development of pandemic stress test; strengthening the supportive role of task force to WHO in global health architecture while duly considering country-specific circumstances.