“G7 Health Ministers Call for Faster and Fairer Vaccine Distribution to Developing Countries”

The G7 Health Ministers today called for the creation of a mechanism that allows for a faster and fairer distribution of vaccines and medicines, due to the access problems to these drugs that developing countries suffered during the pandemic.

Lessons learned from the coronavirus health crisis were one of the central themes of the two-day meeting of the Group of Seven Health Ministers held in the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

During the meeting, the achievement of the rapid development of vaccines at the beginning of the pandemic was highlighted, as well as the difficulties in supplying them. that affected countries with lower incomes and that were weighed down by low vaccination rates.

Facing an eventual new pandemic, the ministers stressed the need to improve the process of global distribution of medicines and vaccines, with a view to “create a system in which everyone can be vaccinated, and in which vaccines can be obtained equitably”in a joint statement adopted at the end of the meeting.

“We have agreed to build a mechanism that promotes access to medicines, and each country must now take the initiative to work on it. We would like it to be the basis for advancing international cooperation in this regard”said Japan’s Health Minister Katsunobu Kato, who chaired the meeting.

The final text also calls for ensuring that the information on new drugs is distributed fairly, quickly and widely.

Along the same lines, the G7 ministers are betting on a “effective use” of the new financial instrument launched last year by the World Bank to pay for the response to contagious diseases.

The joint declaration also underlines the fundamental role played by national health systems during the pandemic, and sets the goal of achieving a “universal health coverage” that offers quality health care for all citizens by 2030.

The Nagasaki appointment served to “set the direction of collaboration towards a healthier future”and to prepare the discussions on Health that the G7 leaders will hold at their summit scheduled from 19 to 21 in Hiroshima, said the Japanese minister of the branch at a press conference.