World Health Summit Regional Meeting
25 April, 2025. 10.45-12.15 IST
Health Diplomacy in Fostering Regional Cooperation: From Access to Sustainable Solutions in Health
The Asia-Pacific region faces significant challenges from AMR, with high morbidity rates and projected economic costs of up to US$ 148 billion. These challenges are compounded by climate change and environmental factors that drive the spread of infectious and vector-borne diseases. Accelerating innovation and ensuring stewardship and fair access to AMR countermeasures, such as antimicrobials, diagnostics, and vaccines, is essential to provide an equitable response to the challenge and improve public health outcomes. In this context, this event convened stakeholders from industry, medical research institutions, not-for-profit organisations, and youth to elucidate the interplay between key global health challenges- AMR, climate change, and equitable access to healthcare products.
The panel hosted by the Health Diplomacy Alliance opened with introductory remarks from Mrs. Katherine Urbáez, Executive Director of the Health Diplomacy Alliance, who also moderated the conversation. Mrs Katherine set the stage for focusing on AMR prevention and control, given the risks posed by climate change to the Asia Pacific region and highlighting the role of ensuring access and stewardship towards novel countermeasures. This was followed by a panel discussion wherein Mr Syed Ahmed, CEO, TechInvention Lifecare Ltd., shared the importance of technology transfer in the context of the recent pandemic agreement negotiations and provided examples of regional collaboration for vaccine manufacture using a One Health approach.
Mr Madhav Joshi, CEO of the India Health Fund, shedding light on the market for AMR innovation in the Asia Pacific and communicating the role of health diplomacy in fostering an investment ecosystem for innovative diagnostics for preventing infectious diseases and AMR. In similar stride, Dr Vasan Sambandamurthy, Senior Vice President, Bugworks Research Inc., shared access centric research and development models for manufacturing novel broad-spectrum antibacterial agents and the role of AI in aiding drug discovery.
Turning to the implementation of AMR National Action Plans, Dr Jyoti Joshi, Senior Science Advisor, The International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions, shared experiences in executing a framework for access and stewardship of reserve antibiotics and highlighted the merits of AMR-climate change integrated strategies to address global challenges. Dr Kamini Walia, Senior Scientist, Indian Council of Medical Research, brought attention to the vital need for striking a balance between access and excess in the antimicrobial and diagnostic regulation, specifically in the context of developing policies towards emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
The panel concluded with Ms Tanushree Jain, Chair of Working Group on Health Education and Literacy, WHO Youth Council, shared youth driven regional and global cooperation initiatives on Antimicrobial Resistance centred on a Planetary Health approach. Thus, by closely examining the synergies among priorities of AMR, climate change and access to health products, the discussion highlighted the necessity for an integrated, evidence-based approach that maximizes resource efficiency while aligning with high-level political commitments.
Key Takeaways:
- Policies for infectious disease prevention and control must integrate AMR, climate change, and access to healthcare products.
- Advancing Universal Health Coverage in the Asia Pacific requires climate-resilient health systems.
- Regional collaboration and sharing best practices are essential to reduce the AMR burden.
- Healthcare innovation must be distributed equitably and guided by strong stewardship.
- Sustainable and effective use of healthcare products depend on balancing innovation, access, and stewardship.
