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Korean Civic Groups Discuss Global Health Initiatives for the G20 Osaka Summit

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2019-05-09 16:47
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KSM, along with other civic groups, participated in a workshop where Korean NGOs shared and discussed new agenda items for the Civil 20 (C20), one of the engagement groups in which non-governmental actors propose initiatives to be considered at the upcoming G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan.

Civil society in Japan has led the process of gathering the voices of other member nations’ civil society. There are three major themes constituting the pivots of the C20 Health Working Group: universal health coverage (UHC), healthy and active ageing, and health security. The host country has shown interest in discussing more about societal aspects, not least the ageing problems that are increasingly manifest within Japan. “The notion that a ‘healthy country will create a healthy economy’ will contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” said Masaki Inaba, the Japan Coordinator of the C20 Global Health Working Group. Inaba also hinted that in the summit, health issues will have a strong confluence with data governance, a realm in which data regulation and WTO reforms would be concurrently discussed.

During the panel session, three civil society activists from Korean NGOs presented their views for each of the global health themes. Han Hee-chung of the Korean Advocates for Global Health (KAGH) argued that although the Ministerial Meetings in finance and health, taking place for the first time this year, are noteworthy, there has to be a discussion about materializing the “leave no one behind” principle – one of UHC’s centerpieces - at an international level. She also pointed out that the Korean government’s compliance with the G20 pledge in terms of ODA and Global Fund contributions has been disappointing vis-à-vis other OECD nations and called for further efforts.

Cho Hyun-se, the President of HelpAge Korea, said that only since 2015 when the WHO mentioned it for the first time, the global community has begun to take note of the health of the elderly. Cho added that despite continued efforts on a global scale, current response to the issue fundamentally lacks related data: the noncommunicable disease (NCD) report, for instance, only includes data of those below the age of 60, while those above 60 are the most vulnerable ones. He asserted that if health of the elderly were to be included in the concept of UHC, a different approach would have to be considered to incorporate dementia, geriatric depression, and other mental illnesses.

Lastly, Choi See-moon of the Korean Parliamentarian Forum on Global Health addressed the persistent risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) within East Asia. According to Choi, the threat is most existential in tuberculosis: since TB is extremely contagious and its combination with AMR (resulting in MDR-TB) leads to an enormous rise in treatment costs. One recent trend in global health has been an intense, coordinated effort in fighting AMR.

Such regional concerns naturally led to tackling the situation in North Korea. According to '2019 DPR Korea Needs and Priorities' published by the UN the TB rate in North Korea is one of the highest in the world (641 cases per 100,000 people), with an estimated 5,200 cases of MDR-TB reported annually; around 16,000 deaths each year are related to TB. During the post-panel discussion, KSM’s Deputy Director General Son Jong-do argued that the decision to halt the Global Fund's provision of assistance to North Korea was “not based on a principle of humanitarianism” and stressed the need to mention marginalized nations in the summit emphasizing the “leave no one behind” principle, not to mention the implication in the health security of Northeast Asia from TB in the DPRK. In response, Inaba said that although the current geopolitical climate and the domestic structure of North Korea leave it out of step with the UHC principle, civil societies have to sustain dialogue internationally to share thoughts and call for actions.

Along with the proposal to address the situation in the DPRK, the participants of the workshop agreed on urging the Korean government to increase its contribution to the Global Fund and requesting the C20 to supplement new concepts in its agenda including health of the elderly, transnational discussion of climate issues, and increased efforts in supporting developing countries.

written by Young Min Kim


KSM Intern