Jakarta– The fifth meeting G20 Joint Finance and Health Task Force (JFHTF) Meeting organized by the Ministry of Health hybrid in Jakarta, on 30-31 August 2022. Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Kunta Wibawa Dasa Nugraha had the opportunity to deliver remarks to the delegates present.
This meeting is a follow-up to the previous meeting. Joint Finance and Health Ministers Meeting (JFHMM) in June 2022 and the Minister of Finance meeting in July 2022. In the two meetings, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Health agreed on 2 main focuses, namely Financial Intermediary Funds (FIF) and the development of enhanced coordination arrangements between the financial and health sectors.
The Ministers of Finance and Health have provided strategic guidance to advance the establishment of the FIF and the development of coordination arrangements between finance and health for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
“Significant progress has been made in these two areas in the past few months. But there are still a few things we need to do to ensure that we have fulfilled our mandate in November. We only have one more meeting after this before the joint meeting of the Ministers of Finance and Ministers of Health in November,” said Secretary General Kunta Wibawa.
There are 4 agendas discussed in this JFHTF meeting. First, Update from the election Executive Head Secretariat JFHTF. Italy's Laura Raimondo was elected to replace Jakob von Weizsacker who resigned.
Second, further discussions to develop coordination arrangements between finance and health for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. These discussions were facilitated by WHO which presented the latest version of the options for developing such coordination arrangements.
Third, updates from FIF on prevention, preparedness and response to the pandemic delivered by Interim Secretariat FIF, including issues related to WHO's central coordinating role, links to the G20, inclusiveness and its operational arrangements.
The fourth agenda is an update from the G20 Health Working Group (HWG) and recommendations for the use of FIF funding.
Further discussions on the development of coordination arrangements between finance and health and the next steps of the FIF will take place at the next JFHTF meeting.
The JFHTF or financial and health task force was formed by the G20 together with a joint communique at the G20 Finance and Health Ministries meeting on October 29, 2021. The JFHTF is co-chaired by the 20 and 2021 G2022 Presidencies, namely Italy and Indonesia.
The JFHTF between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health under the G20 forms prevention, preparedness and response to the pandemic, forms the JFHTF secretariat, forms the FIF, and collaboration between countries in vaccine access, health protocols and funding.
The JFHTF meetings are held alternately by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health. The first JFHTF meeting was held by the Ministry of Health on December 20, 2021, and the second meeting was held by the Ministry of Finance on January 26, 2022. The third meeting was held by the Ministry of Finance on March 21, 2022, while the fourth meeting was held by the Ministry of Health on May 18, 2022. (Author Kurniatun K/Editor Fachrudin Ali)
