Universal health coverage key to development: Vardhan

Access to medical products and creating an enabling legal and trade environment for the public was critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Tuesday.

Inaugurating the "2019 World Conference on Access to Medical Products: Achieving the SDGs 2030", Vardhan said the Indian government was initiating measures and making constant efforts for providing the highest possible standards of healthcare to the citizens.

"A universal health coverage is key to the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda and to which India is firmly committed. Access to medical products and creating an enabling legal and trade environment for the public are critical to achieving the SDGs," Vardhan said.

The main objective of the conference is to accelerate access to medical products for achieving universal health coverage in the context of the SDGs.

The conference, organised by the Health Ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO), will spur innovative thinking around issues surrounding the provisioning of affordable, quality medical products as part of public healthcare delivery systems, Vardhan said.

"We must optimally develop a robust system of sharing knowledge and other resources and to practically translate discussions held at this World Conference for larger public welfare," he added.

Vardhan further announced that the 2020 World Conference will be held from September 23 to 25 next year.

It will be followed by the "International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities (ICDRA)", which India will be hosting for the first time. The event will take place from September 28 to October 2, 2020.

Following the UN high-level meeting on Universal Health Coverage during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the 2019 World Conference seeks to take forward the international and national agenda on access to medical products.

Established in 2015, the SDGs include 232 individual indicators to monitor 17 goals and 169 targets, ranging from energy, climate change, economic growth to health and education.

The 2030 Agenda commits the global community to "achieving sustainable development in its three dimensions -- economic, social and environmental -- in a balanced and integrated manner".

Health is an important cross-cutting policy issue on the international agenda, as it is a precondition and an outcome and indicator of all three dimensions of sustainable development.