Good afternoon and my sincere thanks to ET-Edge for inviting me to address you on this critical and very timely topic – “accelerating towards the SDG vision by reviving and adapting healthcare services”.
First, some context.
In 2015 the global community agreed to 17 interrelated goals – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The SDGs aimed to ensure that all people everywhere enjoy peace and prosperity, prioritizing those furthest behind, and balancing the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.
All countries – not just developing countries – were impelled to act, as was the private sector.
The 17 goals cover what have been commonly known as the five P’s: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnerships.
SDG 3 – on health and well-being for all at all ages – is a key determinant of outcomes in each priority area and is influenced by progress on all social and economic indicators.
In other words, health is both an input and output of sustainable development.
In 2020, one third of the way into the life-span of the SDGs, a UN audit on global progress highlighted an uncomfortable truth: the world was off-track to achieve the SDG targets and goals. Significant efforts were required to right the ship.
In particular, the poor and vulnerable – precisely those targeted – were continuing to be left behind.
The emergence and spread of COVID-19 has exacerbated this trend, laying bare a series of truths that we in the health sector have long highlighted, but which are only now beginning to be accepted more widely.
First, that our biologies are inter-connected. No country or community can afford to ignore the suffering of the poor and vulnerable. Fulfilling the Right to Health is not only a moral imperative; it is in the social and economic interest of all.
Second, the health sector is not – and can never again be viewed as – a “consumptive” sector. The greatest pre-pandemic failure of the global community was its inability to recognize the importance to our shared prosperity of investments in health and health systems.
We see this globally and in the South-East Asia Region.
The South-East Asia Region comprises more than a quarter of the world’s population. It is the world’s third most COVID-19-affected region and has suffered tremendously.
The direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic have negatively affected health, the economy, and the social determinants of health, exacerbating inequities in all countries of the Region.
In 2020, after years of economic growth, the Region suffered an economic contraction of -5.4%.
Of the 120 million people estimated by the World Bank to have been pushed into extreme poverty globally, 60% are from South Asia.
These are extraordinary times and they require an extraordinary response.
In recognition of this, at the recently concluded Seventy-fourth Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia, Member States unanimously agreed that “Build Back Better” must be more than a slogan – that it must be an actionable programme to strengthen essential health services, build health system resilience, and accelerate towards universal health coverage and the health-related SDGs.
Six priorities are of focus.
First, ensuring political leadership and accountability, promoting whole-of-government, whole-of-society capacities to respond to health emergencies.
Second, reorienting health systems towards comprehensive primary health care through increased public investments in health.
Third, committing to closer engagement with, and empowerment of, communities, driving real progress where it matters most – at the grassroots and in the lives of the most vulnerable.
Fourth, optimizing appropriate, sustainable and scalable innovations in digital and disruptive health technologies.
Fifth, enhancing equity-focused data collection and analysis to guide health systems and accelerate progress in priority areas, including TB, noncommunicable diseases and mental health.
And sixth, strengthening public-private partnerships to enhance national capacities to address health priorities, in particular public health emergencies and the delivery of quality health services to all.
That message – the need to strengthen public–private partnerships – is one I want to focus on today.
In India, the private sector provides 70% of out-patient care and 58% of inpatient care.
It provides large volumes of affordable generics and vaccines globally, including for HIV, saving millions of lives in Africa and other developing countries.
Indian-made vaccines account for a substantial share of the vaccines utilized in the fight against COVID-19, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
Private medical colleges produce nearly half the MBBS doctors in India. Private nursing colleges produce a majority of nursing graduates.
The capacity of India’s private sector is indeed immense, and it must be mobilized in support of public goods and national priorities, including access for all to quality health services, without financial hardship.
I urge all present to consider how you can advance India’s mission to achieve health and well-being for all at all ages, and to promote a health and economic recovery from COVID-19 that is healthier, more equitable and sustainable.
Because as COVID-19 has shown – and as the theme of this summit highlights – our paths must be connected, for a better future for all.
I once again thank ET-Edge and wish you engaging deliberations.
Thank you.