Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin spotlighted three agendas in Indonesia's health sector at the opening of the G20 Health Ministers' Meeting in India.

"Indonesia will continue to contribute and lead at the global and regional levels. Borrowing Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy that we do not have to wait for what other people (can do) if we want to make changes," he noted in a statement received here Saturday.

Sadikin remarked that the meeting presented an opportunity to jointly make changes to build a global health system for a better and healthier world.

Three health agendas being pushed by Indonesia are advancing the One Health Declaration and continuing to operationalize the One Health concept in real action.

The minister said the real action of the One Health approach is in the form of Integrated One Health Surveillance through the identification of 10 animals with 10 pathogens that have the potential to infect humans, thereby resulting in a health emergency.

Indonesia, as a country with rich biodiversity, has an important role to prevent the overflow of pathogens, to protect the region and the global community from potential pandemics, he affirmed.

Sadikin elaborated that the second agenda is a follow-up on the results of the G20 Health Ministers' Meeting in Indonesia by advancing the Mechanism of Global Medical Countermeasures Platform as a replacement for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A).

Sadikin also encouraged developed countries in the G20 to continue to assist developing G20 member countries in the research and development of manufacturing vaccines, medicines, and diagnostic tools.

Furthermore, the third agenda is encouraging innovation and digital solutions in the health sector, including the application of new technology and intelligence to improve health services through expanding access, improving service quality, and integrating health information systems, he remarked.

He emphasized that the digital initiatives being promoted by the G20 should not stand alone.

"Unfortunately, in this current condition, existing initiatives are very fragmented and nothing is advancing data standardization," he revealed.

Hence, Indonesia supports the Global Initiative on Digital Health to unite efforts and investments in the digital health space globally, he stated.

During his working trip to India, the minister was also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with several health ministers from the Netherlands, Australia, India, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and the European Union.

Sadikin and his delegation also held meetings with leaders of international organizations in the health sector, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), FIND, Gavi, BMGF, and CEPI, to enhance health cooperation for better health services for the community, including primary services.

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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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