Olivier Véran represented France at the G7 Health Ministers meeting held on June 3-4, 2021 in Oxford, UK. This meeting organized within the framework of the British presidency brought together health ministers from G7 countries, invited countries (India, Australia, South Africa and South Korea), and representatives of international organizations and civil society . At the end of the meeting, the members of the G7 adopted a Charter on clinical trials, as well as a joint declaration which notably includes several priorities supported by France: ensuring equitable access to vaccines and treatments to fight against covid. -19, strengthen WHO as a key and central actor in global health, support the “One Health – One Health” approach and fight against antimicrobial resistance.
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Ahead of the summit of heads of state and government of the G7 scheduled for June 11 to 13, the meeting of G7 health ministers focused on three priorities set by the British Presidency in the context of a health crisis:
- strengthen the global health system;
- strengthen scientific preparedness for pandemics and;
- harness the power and potential of data.
During his intervention, the Minister of Solidarity and Health stressed the importance of making an exemplary commitment to the ACT-A * initiative, so that no region of the world is left out of the production of tools to fight the pandemic. Olivier Véran also reaffirmed the need to strengthen the regulation of global health around the WHO, to promote the construction of the Health Union, and finally to strengthen the health systems of low-income countries.
At the end of the meeting, G7 health ministers adopted a joint declaration, which takes up several of France’s priorities.
Through this statement, G7 members notably committed to :
- Support the central role and strengthening of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the global health architecture, to improve prevention, preparedness and response to future health threats.
- Develop the sharing of results from clinical trials, vaccines and treatments in order to accelerate their development in the face of pandemics. They are committed ” in favor of a new international agreement making it easier and faster to share the results of vaccine and treatment trials to fight Covid-19 and prevent future health threats “. This ” charter for clinical trials of vaccines “Will allow” strengthen collaboration in large-scale international trials “And” avoid unnecessary duplication “. It ” sets out our common principles to accelerate the speed at which clinical trials generate strong evidence and their results can be implemented in this and future pandemics ».
- Increase vaccine sharing via the international Covax scheme, which aims to accelerate the development and production of diagnostic products, treatments and vaccines against COVID-19, to ensure equitable access globally.
- Strengthen their support for the “One Health” approach which promotes an integrated, systemic and unified approach to public, animal and environmental health at local, national and planetary scales to improve the fight against emerging diseases with pandemic risk. The members of the G7 in particular called for increased cooperation between international organizations, by placing the “One Health” approach at the center of their work and in this regard welcomed the launch of the “High Level Panel of Experts”. health alone ”” created by WHO, FAO, OIE and UNEP (“Tripartite Plus”) which will have a strategic advisory role to Tripartite Plus; as well as the PREZODE initiative, launched by the President of the Republic during the One Planet Summit on January 11, 2021, which combines research and operational actions to better characterize, detect emerging zoonotic threats, and develop preventive measures with all parties stakeholders to protect human health, animal health and the environment.
- Develop international standards for Covid-19 screening and vaccination certificates, in order to make possible a ” mutual acceptance ».
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