India at UN: Health Secretary Calls for Fair Vaccine Access and Stronger Global Health Systems

What Happened

On 25 September, Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava represented India at the UN High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response in New York. She told the gathering that India is committed to stronger global health security through cooperation between countries. She shared how India handled the COVID-19 pandemic and what the country learned from it.

Why It Matters

COVID-19 showed that no single country can fight a pandemic alone. Smt. Srivastava said the lessons from that time must turn into steady investment, stronger institutions and health systems that can handle shocks. In her view, these efforts must be built on national health systems, development plans and domestic funding. Help from other countries should add to what a nation does for itself, not replace it.

She also asked the world to treat digital public infrastructure as a global public good. During the pandemic, digital tools helped with disease tracking, vaccination, sharing information with the public, supply chains and keeping regular health services running.

Key Points

• During COVID-19, India supplied 300 million vaccine doses to around 100 countries and two UN entities.
• India also sent medical assistance to more than 150 countries.
• India welcomes the WHO Pandemic Agreement adopted in May 2025, but says its value depends on a fair Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system.
• Countries that share pathogens and biological resources must get timely access to vaccines, diagnostics, treatments and technology, while their national sovereignty is respected.
• WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed also addressed the meeting and asked countries not to become careless after COVID-19.

Leaders at the meeting agreed that community-based systems matter for early detection, tracking and communication. This helps stop new outbreaks before they spread far. Smt. Srivastava closed by saying that preparedness is a shared duty and that fairness must stay at the centre of all future pandemic work.