Seven countries from the Group of 20 (G20), sought to collaborate in distributing pharmaceutical research centres and manufacturers to poor countries in the southern hemisphere, Indonesian Health Ministry’s spokesperson, Siti Nadia Tarmizi said, yesterday.

Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and South Africa, agreed to bring up the plan to the 2nd Health Ministers Meeting, that would be held in Indonesia’s Bali on Oct 27-28, this year, Tarmizi said. They called on the other G20 members to join the collaboration.

“The distribution will open broader access to vaccines, medicines, and diagnostic tools, to the countries in the southern hemisphere, particularly the middle and low-income ones. They deserve to participate in strengthening health resilience at the global level,” Tarmizi told a virtual press conference.

She also said that, all this time, the distribution of pharmaceutical research centres were still centralised in the countries in the northern hemisphere.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK