New Delhi: During the second G20 meeting of the working group on health in Goa today (April 18), the World Health Organisation’s representative in India, Dr Roderico Ofrin lauded India’s work on the health front, said, “It is a golden moment for other countries to learn from India.”
He further said that a prepared India is a prepared world because it is a resource for the world for preparedness. He added,
Healthy India is a healthy world, because its investments in health for its people, actually change the whole health global landscape.
Also Read: COVID-19 Has Heightened Awareness About Hand Hygiene: Dr Roderico Ofrin From WHO
Dr Roderico also explained India’s preparedness during COVID-19 and said he saw how the country came together during the crisis. He said,
I’ve seen how India has surged all its capacities whether it was for laboratories, its production of vaccines, or for some of the diagnostics and of course, as we all know, the efforts for digital health tied around coverage for health with the Ayushman Bharat.
Dr Roderico also said that India leads a very important role on different health topics and how all this has come together with the basic agenda for the health of people is worth mentioning.
Dr Roderico signed off giving a big thumbs up to India and said,
I’m very pleased to be here again with the G20 series of meetings by the health working group of the G20. As we know India is the G20 President for this year and taking the lead in very important health topics mainly the organisation of a health emergency, pandemic preparedness and response architecture, a platform for collaboration for medical countermeasures, and of course, again another platform for digital health initiatives and how that will all come together for the health of people. I think that’s the main thing. It’s not just setting up these very big inter-country intergovernmental networks or systems but how that helps people and I think India is very well poised in terms of leading these agenda items having been here throughout the pandemic, I have witnessed these things.
Watch His Full Address Here
A prepared India is a prepared world; a healthy India is a healthy world: Dr Roderico H. Ofrin, @WHO representative to India. #G20IndiaHealthyTalks @PMOIndia @mansukhmandviya @DrSJaishankar @DrBharatippawar @MEAIndia @g20org @PIB_India @AmritMahotsav @DDNewslive pic.twitter.com/AJmV3ZQ6rK
— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) April 18, 2023
This is not the first time, WHO has praised India for its work on the health front. Earlier as well WHO has praised India’s response during the COVID pandemic. Not just that, in 2022, WHO honoured India’s Accredited Social Health Activists or ASHAs with Global Health Leaders Award. They were among the six recipients of the award that recognised their outstanding contribution towards protecting and promoting health. Last year, during one of the special shows of Banega Swasth India that Dr Roderico Ofrin was part of, he praised India’s ASHA workers, said,
ASHA workers are the true champions of health, they bring primary healthcare to the doorsteps of people, especially the most vulnerable population. For many, particularly the women, children, and underserved population, who are living in rural and hard-to-reach areas, ASHA workers are often the first port of call for health-related needs. They serve as a crucial link between communities and the healthcare system, they continue to give hope to a million of people for a healthier and better future.
Also Read: 10 Things To Know About ASHA Workers, Women Community Health Activists
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 diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
