ISAS Webinar: India, COVID-19 and Global Health Governance

Professor Rama Baru, Professor Ramesh Thakur, Dr Karthik Nachiappan

15 April 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has abruptly disrupted all aspects of human life in India. The Indian government has to simultaneously stanch new infections, treat rising cases and contain or sever chains of transmission while managing the economic and political fallout. The response marshalled by New Delhi alongside Indian states and cities will decisively shape COVID-19’s course and mitigate the damage caused to India’s economy and public health apparatus. India’s response could also have significant global implications given India’s size and importance as a contributor to global health governance or the institutions, partnerships and efforts formed to address longstanding and emergent global health challenges. India’s importance to the global health landscape is not limited to its contributions to the World Health Organization or as the ‘world’s pharmacy’ plying other countries with generic drugs and related therapies but as a critical partner to entities like GAVI and the Global Fund, partners like the Gates and Ford Foundations and other multilateral and regional organizations looking to stem communicable and non-communicable diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, heart disease and diabetes and contributing to issues like health systems and the social determinants of health. As a result, how India tackles COVID-19 has critical national and global health implications given India’s importance to the latter. This webinar will delve into India’s public health response to COVID-19 and the resultant global health and global governance implications.