The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us the importance of health resilience and the world's preparedness against a pandemic is not strong enough.
President Joko Widodo encouraged all countries to work together to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. The President also mentioned the importance of building a stronger world health and preparedness architecture.
The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us the importance of health resilience and the world's preparedness against a pandemic is not strong enough.
Jokowi conveyed this during a virtual speech at the Global Covid-19 Summit which was held in Washington DC, United States, on Thursday (12/5/2022).
"To overcome the pandemic, vaccination acceleration must be carried out to reach 70 percent of the population of each country," said Jokowi as quoted from the official press release of the Presidential Secretariat of Press, Media and Information, Friday (13/5/2022).
Jokowi reminded that the momentum of the current decline in the number of cases must be used to launch the final blow against Covid-19. Therefore, vaccination should be given as soon as possible.
"Our collaboration must bridge the challenges of vaccination, starting from financing, logistics, and human resources," said the President.
President Jokowi explained that at least three things are needed to build a stronger world health and preparedness architecture. First, inclusive health access. According to him, all people without exception should have access to basic health services.
"Basic health infrastructure must be adequate and ready to face a pandemic. At the global level, every country big or small, rich or poor, must have equal access to health solutions," he said.
Second, access to adequate financing. In this regard, President Jokowi encourages the need for a new health financing mechanism involving donor countries and multilateral financing banks because not all countries have the resources to improve their health infrastructure.
"Health financing support should be seen as an investment and a shared responsibility to prevent a pandemic," he said.
Third, empowerment, Jokowi assesses that collective capacity must be pursued and cooperation between countries is the key. According to him, research cooperation, technology transfer cooperation, and access to raw materials must be strengthened.
"There should be no monopoly on the supply chain of the health industry. Diversification of production centers for drugs, vaccines, diagnostic and therapeutic tools must be carried out. With its capacity, Indonesia is ready to become a vaccine production and distribution hub in the region," he said.
At the end of his speech, President Jokowi emphasized that Indonesia's presidency at the G20 pays great attention to inclusive health cooperation. This requires the role and involvement of all countries, as well as strengthening the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) and multilateralism. (setpres, antara)
