Annual Health 20 Summit 2019 – Financing for Global Health Innovation & Sustainable Development
On 24th June 2019, the G20 Partnership held their annual Health20 Summit in Tokyo, leading up to the G20 Summit and the Joint Session of Health and Finance Ministers on 28th June 2019. In the summit, the G20’s top health and health financing experts urged G20 government Leaders, Health and Finance Ministers to significantly boost investment in the health of their citizens in order to promote sustainable economic development and inclusive growth.
Meeting in Tokyo on the eve of the Osaka G20 summit, the Health 20 Summit recognised that specific innovations in health are urgently required to help achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030. Health experts called for Innovative Financing initiatives (IFI) to be expanded and scaled up in order to help finance the research and development needed for the new diagnostics, vaccines and medicines required to tackle the growing problem of drug resistant diseases. Moreover, attendees called for a closer cooperation between health and finance authorities in the G20 to tackle some of the most pressing challenges faced by infectious and non-communicable diseases.
The Health 20 Summit also urged the G20 Heads of State and Government to recognise the inter-dependency of the emerging global digital health ecosystem where a radical new multi-stakeholder approach is required by all governments in delivering their National Digital Health Strategies.
The summit was opened by H.E. Norikazu Suzuki, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan congratulating the cooperation of cross-sectoral health stakeholders. H.E. Ambassador Laurent Pic, Ambassador of France in Tokyo as well as Mr Kiya Masahiko, Deputy Assistant Minister of the International Cooperation Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the importance of financing of health innovation and the achievement of SGD3 Goals.
Alan Donnelly, Chair of the H20Summit and Convenor of the G20 Health & Development Partnership said: “Several G20 countries are already using innovative financing initiatives to fund this essential research, and it is for the G20 Heads of Government and Finance Ministers to agree to rapidly scale up and expand these new methods to help meet the funding deficit.”
Participants of the summit formulated a Call to Action that was jointly sent to G20 Governments ahead of the Osaka G20 Leaders’ Summit. The “Call to Action” was submitted to all G20 Heads of States, and Finance and Health Ministers prior to the G20 Summit and the Joint Session of Health and Finance Ministers on 28th June 2019.
The Health20 Summit is an annual platform, organised by The G20 Health and Development Partnership, that offers experts from across the health sectors to come together and discuss solutions for the most recent and future challenges that will halt the timely achievement of SDG3 by 2030. This year’s summit brought together over 100 participants under the umbrella of SDG 17, to create more Partnership’s, that included senior representatives from the Japanese government, G20 Embassies in Tokyo, Product Development Partnerships, Public-Private Partnerships, NGOs, senior politicians from G20 countries, the private sector, pharmaceutical and academic institutions to explore new and innovative ways of funding research and development (R&D) and delivery in tackling the growing disease burden.
