Global summit in Islamabad to discuss future challenges to health security: official

ISLAMABAD: Health authorities from 15 countries of the world as well as international health organisations have so far confirmed their participation in the two-day Global Health Security Summit 2024 being held on January 10 and 11 in Islamabad, the National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHS,R&C) said on Friday.

“Being the chair of Global Health Security Agenda, Pakistan is holding the global health security summit next week on January 10 and 11 to draw the world’s attention towards threats and challenges to global health security in the days and months to come. We have invited authorities from 30 countries and organisations. 15 of them have so far confirmed their participation in the summit,” a senior official of the federal health ministry told The News.

The slogan for the summit is “Together for a Healthy Planet” and the key thematic areas of the summit include impact of Global Health Security on national security, pandemic preparedness and response, climate change and emerging public health threats, multi-sectoral coordination in context of One Health and sustainable financing based on equity for Global Health Security, the health official said.

Access to Universal Health Coverage/PHC platform to achieve SDG3 as well as ensuring vaccine equity, patent deregulation and transfer of vaccine manufacturing technology would also be discussed during the moot, he added.

The official maintained that key strategic objectives of the summit are to collaborate with global leaders in order to ensure equity-based pandemic preparedness, financing for low and middle-income countries, mutual exchange of knowledge as well as sharing experience with member states and experts around summit thematic areas including vaccine equity, patent deregulation and transfer of technology. The conference is also aimed at securing global, regional partnership with international organisations for aligning health security priorities with those of global and regional priorities in order to strengthen core capacities through technical assistance. Another key objective of the moot is to explore opportunities of joint working and pool funding for health security and International Health Regulations 2005 across the region and globe (pandemic fund – “One Health”) in addition to the sustainable domestic funding for its five-year health security plan 2024-28. A future ‘global health security charter’ will be signed in order to build up a narrative for equity-based pandemic treaty based on equity-based global financing facility on the mutually agreed upon “Islamabad declaration”. This will be done for making health systems resilient enough to showcase health security by putting up a coordinated “One Health response” to any threat. Also to become advocates and champions of GHSA in participating member states, the health ministry official added. Caretaker Federal Health Minister Dr Nadeem Jan had earlier told a group of newsmen on Wednesday that the Global Health Security summit being organised by Pakistan this month was aimed at drawing the world’s attention towards future pandemics and strengthening collective ability to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats like Covid-19. “After the Covid-19 threat was over and WHO declared that it was no longer a public health emergency, entire world put the global health security on backburner. But, we in Pakistan strongly believe that being chair of the Global Health Security Agenda, there is an urgent need to discuss issues concerning global health security and take timely actions to prevent and deal future pandemics,” the health minister had told a group of journalists at the Ministry of Health.