New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (May 21) said the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted many gaps in the global health architecture and asserted that building resilience in global systems needs a collective effort.
In his video message at the 76th session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, PM Modi said the pandemic also highlighted a need to boost global health equity while India showed its commitment to international cooperation by shipping almost 300 million vaccine doses to more than 100 countries. He said,
Many of these countries were from the Global South. I am sure that supporting equal access to resources will be a top priority for the WHO in the coming years.
PM Modi's remarks for the 76th World Health Assembly. https://t.co/q78nRmtyIw
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 21, 2023
Also Read: India Is Striving Towards An ‘Integrated Health Policy’: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya
In the last few years, PM Modi said, India has worked on availability, accessibility and affordability of healthcare.
He said,
An approach that works with the scale of India’s diversity, can also be a framework for others. We are keen on supporting the WHO for similar efforts in low- and middle-income countries.
Be it the world’s biggest health insurance scheme – Ayushman Bharat, or the massive ramping up of health infrastructure, or the drive to provide sanitation and drinking water to millions of families, many of India’s efforts are aimed at boosting health at the last mile, the prime minister said.
India’s traditional wisdom says that the absence of illness is not the same as good health, he said, adding that traditional systems such as yoga, ayurveda and meditation address physical, mental and social aspects of health.
He said,
I am glad that WHO’s first Global Centre for Traditional Medicine is being established in India. I am also happy that the world is recognising the importance of millets through the International Year of Millets.
PM Modi noted that India’s ancient scriptures teach to see the world as one family. He said,
During our G20 Presidency this year, we are working with the theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’. Our vision for good health is ‘One Earth One Health’. We can be healthy only when our whole ecosystem is healthy. So, our vision is not restricted to just humans. It extends to the entire ecosystem, including animals, plants and the environment.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diarrhoea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
