President Jokowi: Developing Countries Must Be Part of the Global Health Supply Chain

While opening the G20 Summit's second session on health issues, President Joko Widodo called that developing countries needed to get involved by contributing to the efforts to improve the health system supply chain.

BIRO PERS, MEDIA, DAN INFORMASI SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN

President Joko Widodo opens the Group of 20 Summit's second meeting on the global health architecture on Tuesday (15/11/2022) in Bali. He encouraged developing countries to empower themselves in ways that allowed them to contribute to solving global health issues.

NUSA DUA, KOMPAS – The Covid-19 pandemic has served as a lesson for the world, reminding it of the need to strengthen its preparedness in facing global health emergencies. Developing countries must also empower themselves so they can be part of the global health solution.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo conveyed these views while opening the second session of the Group of 20 Bali Summit on health issues in Nusa Dua on Tuesday (11/15/2022). The first session discussed food and energy security.

"Developing countries must be empowered as part of the solution. A gap in health capacity cannot be tolerated. Developing countries need to be empowered and must be part of the global health supply chain, including manufacturing and research centers," he said.

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According to President Jokowi, this goal could be realized health investments in developing countries were increased. He added that research cooperation and technology transfers must also be strengthened, and that access to raw materials for developing countries must be expanded.

BPMI SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN

The Sinovac vaccine is placed in a storage facility with a temperature of 2-8 degrees Celcius at PT Bio Farma in Bandung, until the National Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) ensures the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.

President Jokowi added that any provisions regarding TRIPS (intellectual property) waivers needed to be expanded to cover all healthcare solutions, including diagnostic and therapeutic solutions. He also encouraged the World Health Organization to realize its commitments related to hub-and-spoke health solutions.

“The world must not repeat the same mistakes it made during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a valuable lesson for preparing the world for a health emergency. 'Never again' must be our common mantra," Jokowi said.

In his opening speech, President Jokowi also invited G20 leaders to contribute to the Pandemic Fund, additional contributions were needed to ensure that the fund could be used optimally. Indonesia has contributed US$50 million to the Pandemic Fund.

“The G20 must also participate in overseeing the process of establishing a pandemic treaty. This is important to strengthen readiness at the national, regional and global levels. Readiness saves lives and the [global] economy. The G20 must take steps, and it must do so immediately," the President said.

According to Priya Basu, executive director of the Pandemic Fund Secretariat at the World Bank, pledges to the Pandemic Fund now totaled an estimated $1.4 billion from 24 donors, which consisted of G20 member countries, nonmember countries, and international philanthropic institutions. This figure, Priya added, was a good start to encourage greater involvement from various parties.

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Priya Basu, executive directore of the Pandemic Fund Secretariat at the World Bank.

Nevertheless, additional pledges from various parties were still needed to close the financing gap for pandemic prevention, readiness and response. The World Bank and the WHO estimated that the financing gap for future pandemics at $10.5 billion.

"No country will be safe in the face of a pandemic if there are still countries that are not yet safe. That is why every country must have political will and invest in the Pandemic Fund," said Basu.

This article was translated by Prasiddha Gustanto.