August 18th and 19th, 2023U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra (Pronounced Ha-vee-air Beh-sehr-rah) will visit Gandhinagar, India to attend the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting and bilateral meetings.
In India, Secretary Becerra will emphasize that our partnership with India is one of our country’s most important relationships, and that the US-India partnership will bring regional and global health benefits.
While attending the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting, Secretary Becerra will promote the following US priorities:
- enhance each other’s prosperity,
- Promote democracy and human rights,
- Tackling the climate crisis and
- Maintain a rules-based order based on international law.
Additionally, Becerra will emphasize that the United States supports all three priorities of the G20 health track in the Indian presidency.
- A global coalition on health emergency prevention, preparedness and response (PPR), with a focus on implementing the One Health Approach (the intersection of humans, animals and the environment) and combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) improve.
- Improve global availability and access to affordable medical interventions (vaccines, therapeutics and MCMs, including diagnostics) for health emergencies.and
- Support the use of digital health systems in low- and middle-income countries to improve health service delivery and promote universal health coverage (UHC).
Finally, Secretary Becerra emphasized the importance of deepening bilateral relations with India and reiterated that India is one of the essential partners of the United States. Becerra will use his participation in the G20 in Gandhinagar to deepen an already important relationship.
in particular:
August 18thSecretary Becerra will hold bilateral talks with India.
Becerra will attend the first meeting of the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting later this morning.
Afterwards, Secretary Becerra will participate in Session 1 of the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting, “Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Health Emergencies” (focusing on One Health and AMR).
Becerra will hold a bilateral meeting with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development later that afternoon.
Finally, Secretary Becerra will attend the G20 working gala dinner in the evening.
August 19thSecretary Becerra will hold a bilateral meeting with Brazil to discuss opportunities for US-Brazil health cooperation and the host country’s G20 priorities for 2024.
Later that morning, Secretary Becerra addressed the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting Session 2, “Strengthening Cooperation in the Pharmaceutical Sector Focusing on Availability and Access to Safe, Effective, Quality and Affordable Health Care Measures” (VTD (Vaccines, Vaccines, to attend therapeutic drugs, diagnostics));
Next, Secretary Becerra will attend Session 3 of the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting, “Digital Health Innovations and Solutions to Support Universal Health Coverage and Improve Health Service Delivery.”
Finally, Secretary Becerra will attend the closing ceremony of the G20 Health Ministers’ Meeting.
All August 18th and 19th events are closed to the public. Media interested in interviewing Secretary Becerra at the G20 should contact me. ilse.zuniga@hhs.gov.