보건복지부 영문홈페이지

Discussions on enhancing international coordination for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response

코로나19 및 미래 감염병 대유행 예방·대비·대응을 위한 국제 공조 강화 논의

PRESS RELEASE

June 21, 2022

Lee Ki-il, the 2nd Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, attended the G20 Health Ministers‘ Meeting and the G20 Joint Finance and Health Ministers’ Meeting, which lasted from June 20 to 21. During the meetings, the participating ministers discussed ways for the international community to work together, focusing on steps to strengthen global health resilience to overcome the current COVID-19 pandemic and be ready for future pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

The ministerial meetings, organized under the G20 Indonesian Presidency, were held in a hybrid format and attended by G20 members, guest countries, and international organizations such as WHO.

During the Health Ministers’ Meeting, which convened on June 20, participants addressed concerns and discussed in-depth ways to enhance global health resilience for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, align cross-border protocols, and expand global manufacturing and research hubs for vaccines and other medical countermeasures for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Vice Minister Lee reiterated the need for the G20 to take the lead in establishing collaborative governance to ensure equitable access to vaccines and other medical countermeasures, under the goal of strengthening international solidarity and cooperation to reinforce global health resilience for future pandemics and the current COVID-19 pandemic.

In this vein, he also underscored the significance of promptly sharing genetic data and the necessity of bolstering the medical countermeasure manufacturing capacity and knowledge-sharing in LMICs.

In particular, he recommended the international community to build on the success of the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID)* on data-sharing among countries, which allowed the identification of new variants and the rapid development of vaccines in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, then, highlighted the need to boost the openness and accessibility of the mechanism to encourage more countries to participate in it.

* Global Initiative for Sharing All Influenza data, GISAID: A non-profit consortium based on public-private partnership supporting rapid and open access to data on epidemic and pandemic viruses

For knowledge-sharing, he shared that Korea will be hosting the World Bio Summit this October, which will serve as a venue for knowledge-sharing on future infectious disease responses, and asked for the interest and support of G20.

During the meeting, there were also discussions on the need for coordinated efforts from the international community to promote the One Health* approach and respond to tuberculosis – a pandemic that has been neglected for some time due to COVID-19 in terms of interest and investment – and antimicrobial resistance (AMR)**.

* One Health: A multi-disciplinary cooperation and dialogue strategy to promote the health of the entire global ecosystem under the recognition that human, animal, and environment health are interconnected as one

** AMR: A general term for a condition that occurs when bacteria and other microbes evolve to withstand antimicrobial treatments, making infections difficult to treat

Vice Minister Lee shared the need to scale up investments for existing infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, while also introducing Korea’s pan-governmental coordinated response mechanism related to the One Health approach and AMR.

The Joint Finance and Health Ministers’ Meeting held on June 21 focused on raising a Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF)* for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and establishing a coordinating body to bring together the finance and health sectors.

* FIF: A financial arrangement leveraging public and private resources to support international initiatives to respond to global health crises or food issues

Vice Minister Lee emphasized that sustainable financing for the health sector would be difficult without a shared understanding on public health threats and a close cooperation between the health and financial authorities, while recognizing the need for a health-finance coordinating body.

He also suggested that linking the new body with existing mechanisms should be considered to ensure its efficiency.

The G20 members will continue to build on the discussions of the meetings to address the gaps in the global health system and to draft a joint declaration on response strategies to address the vulnerabilities of the global health system and prepare for future health crises.

The Health Ministers’ Meeting and the Joint Finance and Health Ministers’ Meeting will each be held twice this year, with the second meetings scheduled for October and November, respectively, in Bali, Indonesia.

Vice Minister Lee stated, “in order to respond to pandemics including the COVID-19 pandemic that affect all aspects of society around the world, it is essential to strengthen global health resilience without leaving anyone behind.” He added, “Korea will also remain committed to actively engage in future discussions and perform its responsibilities as a member of the international community.”