{"id":40384,"date":"2025-08-23T13:16:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T07:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/2025\/08\/23\/south-asia-health-research-collab-takes-bold-step\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T13:16:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T07:46:48","slug":"south-asia-health-research-collab-takes-bold-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/2025\/08\/23\/south-asia-health-research-collab-takes-bold-step\/","title":{"rendered":"South Asia Health Research Collab Takes Bold Step"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><b>New Delhi [India], August 23:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India pulled off something rare this week, getting its neighbours to agree on action, not just talk. <strong>Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, and India<\/strong> came together in Delhi to strengthen health research systems. The message was blunt: no country can fix pandemics, NCDs, or antibiotic resistance alone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve all seen enough regional \u201cdialogues\u201d that go nowhere. This one, convened by the <\/span><b>Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, tried to cut through that. The plan is to align research with policy, share resources, and build systems that can stand up to future health shocks.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>India Takes Centre Stage<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s be honest, India wasn\u2019t just a host. It was the heavyweight in the room. From med-tech breakthroughs to vaccine diplomacy, we\u2019ve already shown what scale and speed look like. Amit Agrawal, Secretary of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, drove the point home: India\u2019s innovation platforms are open, and neighbours should plug in. His pitch was simple: start-ups and med-tech don\u2019t just fuel growth; they deliver affordable solutions that work across the region.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And yes, this is the same India that rolled out vaccines for 1.3 billion people <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> shipped doses abroad when others hoarded supplies. If that\u2019s not proof of capacity, what is?<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Commitments On Paper<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By the end, countries signed onto a to-do list that looks refreshingly specific:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>South\u2013South collaboration:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Coordinate on antimicrobial resistance, pandemic prep, and lifestyle diseases.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Pooling resources:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Train epidemiologists, improve research ethics, strengthen labs, and develop med-tech together.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Research to policy:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Stop treating science as shelf decoration. Evidence must feed directly into government programmes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>ICMR\u2019s toolkit:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> India will share ethics forms, free online courses, and digital tools with countries still building systems.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>India\u2019s Diplomacy In Science<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dr. Rajiv Bahl, ICMR\u2019s Director-General, reminded the room that South\u2013South collaboration isn\u2019t charity, it\u2019s strategy. India\u2019s science diplomacy has always rested on sharing capacity with partners, not gatekeeping it. His line, \u201cScience and research must serve people directly\u201d, wasn\u2019t just a soundbite. It fit the theme: make research useful, not ornamental.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Priorities For The Region<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The thematic focus areas were split up: One Health, pandemics, infectious diseases, NCDs, maternal health, and med-tech innovation. The idea is that different countries will lead in different areas, so expertise isn\u2019t duplicated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India naturally sits at the core of this. We\u2019ve built giant digital health stacks, produced low-cost drugs, and fought epidemics at scale. Bhutan\u2019s experience with community health, Sri Lanka\u2019s public health system, and Nepal\u2019s grassroots innovations bring their own value. Together, the region could finally move from patchwork fixes to something closer to resilience.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Experts In The Mix<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This wasn\u2019t a dry bureaucrats-only exercise. Names like Dr. V.K. Paul from <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/niti.gov.in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NITI Aayog<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Prof. Srinath Reddy from PHFI, and Dr. Shamika Ravi from the PM\u2019s Economic Advisory Council added weight. Regulators, pharma heads, and health economists joined the table too. Translation: the people who can actually connect dots between research, industry, and policy were in the room.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>From Talk To Execution<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The final consensus was sharp: less knowledge-sharing, more joint projects. Countries agreed on regular meetings, exchange visits, and co-developed training. That might sound small, but it\u2019s how durable systems are built. Annual speeches won\u2019t stop dengue. Shared training and real-time data just might.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This isn\u2019t altruism. For India, regional resilience means fewer imported health shocks. Dengue doesn\u2019t stop at customs, and antimicrobial resistance doesn\u2019t need a passport. By helping neighbours build capacity, we protect ourselves and project influence at the same time. That\u2019s soft power with teeth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Good to see South Asia finally acting like a region instead of a neighbourhood of strangers. Let\u2019s be blunt: if COVID didn\u2019t teach us that health threats cross borders, nothing will. India stepping up with ICMR\u2019s tools and platforms is smart. It builds influence while solving real problems. But the test isn\u2019t in declarations. It\u2019s in whether bureaucrats actually follow through. Annual meetings are great, but dengue mosquitoes don\u2019t wait for agendas. Time for South Asia to walk the talk.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pnndigital.com\/national\/india-vervesemi-dli-scheme\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Also Read: DLI Scheme: India\u2019s Chip Dream Gets a Boost<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Delhi [India], August 23: India pulled off something rare this week, getting its neighbours to agree on action, not just talk. Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, and India came together in Delhi to strengthen health research systems. The message was blunt: no country can fix pandemics, NCDs, or antibiotic resistance alone. We\u2019ve all seen&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/2025\/08\/23\/south-asia-health-research-collab-takes-bold-step\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;South Asia Health Research Collab Takes Bold Step&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[635],"class_list":["post-40384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailynewsindia.co.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}