Ottawa – Strong and effective relationships with international partners help Canada learn from others and advance innovative, transformative, and compassionate solutions on shared global health priorities. From May 13-14, Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, met with G7 partners to consider important global health issues. Health Ministers discussed pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response; how to achieve more resilient, equitable and sustainable universal health coverage; and promoting innovation to address health issues like antimicrobial resistance (AMR), dementia, healthy aging, and climate change.
At the meeting, Minister Duclos emphasized Canada’s continued commitment to global health and advocated for more collective attention to human health resources and mental health, as well as equitable sexual and reproductive health and rights.
During his time in Japan, Minister Duclos visited the Japan National Institute of Infectious Diseases, where he met with the Chief of the Institute, Dr. WAKITA Takaji, who is also the Chair of Japan’s Coronavirus Policy Advisory Committee. This was an opportunity to exchange lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, discuss infectious disease surveillance and detection, and the bilateral cooperation between Canada and Japan. He also met with the President of the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Dr. MISHIMA Yoshinao about Japan’s efforts in pharmaceutical and medical devices innovation. Together, they identified opportunities for research and technical collaboration between Canada and Japan on biomanufacturing.
Additionally, Minister Duclos visited the AMR Clinical Reference Centre in the National Center for Global Health and Medicine to learn about Japan’s efforts related to AMR surveillance and countermeasures, as well as identify opportunities to strengthen global monitoring and surveillance systems. Minister Duclos also announced an investment of $6.3 million to Combatting Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) in support of global and domestic antimicrobial innovation.
On May 13, the G7 Health Ministers’ Meeting held a joint session with G7 Finance Ministers to discuss how the G7 can collaborate effectively and efficiently with international organizations on funding for health emergencies. G7 Ministers restated the importance of sustainable financing for the global health architecture and the need for improved coordination between the financial and health sectors to keep everyone healthy and safe.
Minister Duclos also had productive bilateral meetings with his colleagues from to discuss important health priorities and bolster strong relationships with likeminded partners.
The G7 continues to emphasize the importance of collective responsibility when it comes to global health architecture. The G7 Health Ministers’ Communiqué outlines global commitments made by G7 partners on strengthening the global health architecture for public health emergencies and contributing to achieving more resilient, equitable and sustainable universal health coverage.
The Government of Canada remains committed to collaborating with international and domestic partners to promote the health and safety of people in Canada and around the world. Engaging in meetings like these are just one of the opportunities to achieve our shared goals for better health for all.
“Solving global health problems requires global solutions, and these global solutions can help to inform domestic ones. With my G7 partners, we were able to have meaningful discussions to help advance important health issues for people in Canada and around the world. Meetings like these are extremely valuable for sharing lessons learned and in managing current health issues as well as preparing for potential future public health events. Together, with our international partners, we can help improve health care for everyone.” – Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health