The List of Main Agenda at the 1st G20 Health Ministerial Meeting

VIVA – The 1^st G20 Health Ministers Meeting (HMM) 2022 officially held in Yogyakarta on June 20, 2022. The meeting was attended by the Ministers of Health of G20 member countries as well as special invitees such as the Director General of WHO, CEO of CEPI, Secretary General of the OECD and Executive Director of the Global Fund and This GISAID will address a number of important issues.

"There were six important meetings held today, the first to discuss harmonization of health protocols, and the second to discuss how to strengthen the global health architecture," said Spokesperson for Indonesia at the G20, Dr. Siti Nadia Tarmizi in the virtual conference of the 1st G20 Health Ministerial Meeting and JFHMM on Monday, June 20, 2022.

Siti Nadia added that later the results of this technical meeting will be brought to a higher level.

"Currently, during the ministerial level meeting both the minister of health joins the finance then another discussion on technical and expert topics that will be raised at the second level meeting held in October. So, this is our process of bringing commitments from technical documents and agreements to ministry level," said Siti Nadia.

"We hope that with this meeting, a document will be ratified by the leaders at the Leaders' Summit in November. So, it becomes a high commitment for the G20," she added.

Previously, this first meeting was aimed at gathering support from the G20 Health Ministers in an effort to strengthen the global Health system and raise funds to deal with the next pandemic.

This is in line with the major theme of the G20 Presidency, namely “Strengthening Global Health Architecture, with Building Global Health System Resilience and Mutual Recognition for International Mobility, and Manufacturing Hub and Research”, which emphasizes three priority issues.

The three important issues discussed in the HMM are first, discussing the steps needed to build the resilience of the global health system, either through raising funding sources by establishing a Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF), raising resources with a more permanent mechanism, and sharing information, and data through the concept of the GISAID+ model for pathogens that have the potential to cause a pandemic.

The second priority issue discussed the results of the first Health Working Group (HWG) meeting, namely the harmonization of the COVID-19 digital vaccine certificate verification mechanism to facilitate international travel through the creation of a Federated Public Trust Directory between G20 countries based on the COVID-19 Certificate Mechanism in accordance with WHO standards.

Then, the third priority issue discusses the steps to ensure equitable development and distribution of vaccines, drugs, and health equipment in the face of the next pandemic.

"Global cooperation is significant to overcome the current pandemic and ensure we are ready to face the next pandemic. For this reason, this meeting is an important momentum for the G20 to gather support in order to increase the capacity of the national, regional and global Health systems," said dr. Nadia in her statement.

In the next HMM session, the Ministry of Health will report the results of the side event meeting on Tuberculosis, One Health and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

Siti Nadia explained that for the TB side event, the Indonesia G20 Presidency in 2022 offers an opportunity to refocus efforts to end TB globally, through strengthening commitments to maintain and increase funding and adopting newer methodologies to fund efforts at the global level.

One Health side event, the G20 2022 Indonesian Presidency presents an opportunity to implement the commitments of G20 countries in the recommendation entitled “G20 Lombok One Health Policy Brief” to achieve tangible results in the implementation of One Health, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Furthermore, at the AMR side event, the Indonesian G20 Presidency strives for the sustainability of the Implementation of AMR Prevention and Control to achieve Universal Health Coverage and the goals of The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030.

In addition to the two main agendas, a Joint Finance and Health Ministers Meeting (JFHMM) will be held on June 21, 2022. This meeting is the first meeting between the Ministers of Health and Finance Ministers of the G20 as well as WHO and the World Bank which will further discuss financing for Prevention, Preparedness, and a more adequate, more sustainable and better coordinated Response (PPR) through the establishment of the FIF.

"This first meeting is expecting to reach an agreement, especially regarding the formation of the FIF as a permanent non-adhoc body in the context of our readiness to face the pandemic in the future," said Nadia.

Her party explained that FIF is a new financing mechanism that is most efficient, effective and inclusive to eliminate the PPR financing gap where every country in the world can access the financing.

The establishment of the FIF was designed and drafted by WHO and the World Bank. Proposals will continue to be developed and updated based on proposals and discussions by G20 member countries at the 1st JFHMM meeting.

Therefore, dr. Nadia underlined the importance of the JFHMM meeting as part of the joint commitment of the G20 countries to strengthen the global health architecture through raising funds for the establishment of the FIF.

Currently, a number of countries have submitted their commitments to contribute to FIF, including the US (450 million USD), the European Union (450 million USD), Germany (50 million EURO), Indonesia (50 million USD), Singapore (10 million USD) and Welcome Trust (10 million Pounds Sterling). This nominal is expected to increase in line with the JFHMM meeting in Yogyakarta.