Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually addressed the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva.

Ø  While congratulating the organisation for “serving the world for 75 years”, PM Modi said the

Ø  Covid-19 pandemic showed that there was a need for greater collaboration and health equity.

Ø  Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva, virtually.

Ø  While congratulating the organisation for “serving the world for 75 years”, he said the pandemic showed there was a need for greater collaboration and health equity.

Ø  He mentioned that India showed its commitment towards international cooperation during the pandemic by shipping 300 million vaccine doses to over 100 countries.

Ø  PM highlighted the gaps in the global health architecture which were exposed during the covid-19 pandemic and emphasised the need for a collective effort in building resilient global systems and boosting global health equity.

Ø  He said that the role of WHO is more important for the challenges that lie ahead in the future.

Ø  He said that supporting equal access to resources should be the top priority for the WHO in the coming years.

Ø  Last year, India established WHO’s first Global Centre for Traditional Medicine.

About World Health Assembly -

Ø  The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of World Health Organisation (WHO).

Ø  It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board.

The main functions of the World Health Assembly are to —

Ø  Determine the policies of the Organisation,

Ø  Appoint the Director-General,

Ø  Supervise financial policies, and

Ø  Review and approve the proposed programme budget.

Ø  The Health Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland.

About World Health Organisation (WHO) -

Ø  Founded in 1948, WHO is a United Nations agency that connects nations, partners and people to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.

Ø  It provides technical assistance to countries, sets international health standards, and collects data on global health issues.

Ø  The WHO has played a leading role in several public health achievements, most notably the

Ø  Eradication of smallpox, the near-eradication of polio, and the development of an Ebola

Ø  Its World Health Assembly, the agency's decision-making body, elects and advises an executive board made up of 34 health specialists.

Ø  The WHO relies on contributions from member states (both assessed and voluntary) and private donors for funding.

Ø  Its publication, World Health Report, provides assessments of worldwide health topics.

About the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine -

Ø  WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine is established to support WHO’s efforts to implement the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023.

Ø  The WHO strategy aims to support Member States in developing proactive policies and implementing action plans that will strengthen the role traditional medicine plays in keeping populations healthy.

Ø  The first WHO GCTM in the world has been established in Jamnagar, Gujarat under the Ministry of AYUSH.

The G7 group has repeatedly acknowledged the urgency for effective climate action but offered little in terms of scaled-up action.

Need for Effective Climate Action -

Ø  A series of recent reports have once again sounded the red alert on climate change, saying that the window of opportunity for effective action was narrowing faster than ever before.

Ø  For example, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold was likely to be breached (at least temporarily) over the next five years.

Ø  According to some other studies, 2023 is on track to become the warmest ever, surpassing 2016.

Ø  The recent heat wave in India and neighbouring countries was almost certainly due to climate change. The probability of its occurrence has increased at least 30 times by global warming.

Ø  These reports called for an immediate scale-up of climate action. However, the response does not seem to be able to keep pace.

The G7 Climate Ministers Meeting -

Ø  The meeting of the group of rich and developed nations with the economic heft to create the necessary momentum for global change, presents the latest example of the response gap.

Ø  In its final communique (in Hiroshima, Japan), the G7 listed a set of milestones that need to be achieved for a realistic chance of containing the global rise in temperatures to within 1.5 degree  Celsius.

Milestones listed by the G7 for Effective Climate Action -

Seeking a global peak in GHG emissions by 2025 —

Ø  The G7 claimed that their emissions had already “peaked”, and asked all major economies to ensure that their individual emissions do not continue to rise beyond 2025.

Ø  “Major economies” is not defined, but in the context of climate change, it usually includes countries like India, China, Brazil, South Africa, and Russia.

Net-zero by 2050 —

Ø  According to scientific claims, the world as a whole must become net zero by mid-century in order to meet the 1.5C target.

Ø  The G7 reiterated its commitment to turn net-zero by 2050, and asked all ‘major economies’ to attain net-zero status by that year and to come up with detailed road maps to reach the target.

Accelerating the phase-out of “unabated fossil fuels” in line with 1.5C trajectories —

Ø  G7 said that they would eliminate “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” by 2025.

Ø  For example, the G7 claimed they had stopped financing new fossil fuel-based energy projects “except in limited circumstances”. These circumstances include the need to end the dependence on Russian gas.

Challenges in the path of achieving these milestones -

A global peak by 2025 is difficult —

Ø  The biggest emissions year so far has been 2019 (about 55 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent). After a dramatic drop in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, emissions rose again in 2021.

Ø  The 2025 peak year is not mandated under the Paris Agreement or any other international decision.

Ø  India has long made it clear that it sees its emissions growing well into the next decade.

Ø  Even China, the world’s largest emitter, has indicated that it would peak only towards the end of this decade.

Ø  Most of the rich and industrialised nations are now seeing a decline, though not at the required pace.

Net-zero by 2050 —

Ø  Among the major emitters (US, EU), only Germany has said it would attain net-zero status by 2045.

Ø  China has said it would turn net-zero only in 2060, while India has set 2070 as the target. Some other countries, including big emitters like Russia and Saudi Arabia, have 2060 as their net-zero targets.

Ø  End to fossil fuels — The G7 countries put no deadline to ending the use of fossil fuels.

Way forward -

With fast changing technologies, and rapid adoption of cleaner sources of energy, the situation could alter significantly over the next decade.

To facilitate cooperation related to developments in critical and emerging technologies including biotechnology, The Quad set up a critical and emerging technology working group in 2021. The establishment of a Quad-led biomanufacturing hub in India will enhance this cooperation.

What is Bio-Manufacturing?

Ø  Biomanufacturing uses living systems, particularly microorganisms and cell cultures, to produce molecules and materials on a commercial scale.

Ø  It has the potential to transform the global industrial system, with up to 60% of physical inputs to the global economy expected to be producible using this technology.

Ø  Many countries, including the US and China, recognise the need to optimise this ecosystem  and have designed specific policies to shape their bio-economies.

Ø  India’s National Biotechnology Development Strategy envisions the country as a “Global Biomanufacturing Hub” by 2025. As the strategy sets the target of $100 billion for the hub, this cannot be achieved without external support.

Why is India an ideal choice to become the biomanufacturing hub?

Ø  Existing infrastructure — India already has existing infrastructure in place which can be utilised for the purpose of biomanufacturing.

Ø  A major player in the global pharmaceutical industry — India has established expertise in manufacturing and quality control processes, which can be leveraged for biomanufacturing.

Ø  Competitive advantage in terms of cost-effectiveness: According to an analysis, the cost of manufacturing in India is 33% lower than the US.

Ø  With the potential to provide affordable scalability in biomanufacturing processes, India can meet the demand for bio manufactured products on a large scale.

Ø  Skilled workforce — India has a large pool of skilled professionals in the life sciences and biotechnology sectors.

Ø  Research capabilities — India has demonstrated its research capabilities in biomanufacturing, ranking high in terms of the quality of research output and the share of research publications.

Ø  The country’s strong research base provides a solid foundation for innovation and advancements in biomanufacturing processes and technologies.

Quad’s complementary strength -

Ø  Funding and advanced technology — The U.S. has significant funding capability, while all three (Japan, Australia, and the U.S.) also possess advanced biotechnology innovation ecosystems and intellectual property.

Ø  Facilitate cross-Quad collaboration — The biomanufacturing hub can house all current bilateral government efforts and establish a research collaboration office for this purpose.

Ø  The hub can harmonise language, regulations, and data-sharing regarding biomanufacturing to secure supply chains for Quad nations and facilitate international collaboration.

Ø  Such streamlining will boost collaboration efforts within the Quad and create opportunities for collaboration with nations outside the Quad as well.

Ø  Why the biomanufacturing hub is important for Quad and the world at large?

Ø  China has also expressed its intention to capture this market, like how it dominated smallmolecule active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

Ø  Such dependence in the biomanufacturing sector will be detrimental to both India and the Quad.

Ø  The proposed hub can help facilitate technology transfer, connect investors, and establish a biomanufacturing fund that is administered through the Quad, to support India’s efforts to reduce dependency on China.

What should be India’s strategy?

Ø  Improvement in workforce quality — Permanent training facilities with focus on commercializing research and development. Recent policy changes in India allow the establishment of foreign universities and can encourage scholar exchange programmes.

Ø  Scheme to check China’s dominance — India must formulate a scheme like the productionlinked incentive scheme that allocated $2 billion to the pharmaceutical sector to make biopharmaceuticals, APIs, key starting materials, and related products.

Conclusion –

The Quad should establish a biomanufacturing hub in India to benefit from the country’s economic potential and address supply-chain vulnerabilities. The proposed hub has the potential to transform India into a leading player in the field of biomanufacturing and to help the Quad to compete in this key area.