Sensitising govts to healthcare will top Soumya Swaminathan’s agenda at WHO

Soumya Swaminathan, the current Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, will be the first Indian to take on the role of the Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) at Geneva in November.

Swaminathan, a daughter of the ‘Father of Indian Green Revolution’ MS Swaminathan, is a paediatrician and has worked extensively in the field of tuberculosis. She will be working with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the new Director-General of WHO, in realising the agenda set by the organisation.

“It is indeed a highly distinguished position and I’m excited because it is the highest thing you can aspire in global health. But at the same time, it is going to be challenging,” she says, as she sipped tender coconut water to beat the Chennai heat. Swaminathan was in Chennai recently to inaugurate a biosciences lab at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

“As a global organisation it has priorities that are ambitious like universal health coverage, tackling non-communicable diseases, preventing outbreaks and epidemics, and strengthening health systems. It is my responsibility to make sure that it is possible at the ground level. And that is not going to be easy,” said Swaminathan.

For one she needs to take a 360 degree approach to healthcare, which looks at environment and social factors like drinking water, sanitation, safety at the workplace and in schools and not just medical. “So it is the issue of making people aware of the determinants of health and also making it a priority,” Swaminathan said.

This means that she will be required to work closely with health ministries world over to bring health to the centre stage. “This is where the challenge lies since for most governments health takes low priority when it comes to policies,” she said.

Swaminathan states that one of the reasons for this could be that unlike economic or infrastructure development, health is invisible. “But if the governments do not take preventive healthcare seriously, we will be burdened by growing non-communicable diseases that are already increasing at a rapid pace,” she adds.

Another area that needs focus is mental health, which is the major cause of suicides among 15-29 year—olds. Stating that India lacks mental health professionals, Swaminathan says the need of the hour is a model that will involve community health providers, nurses and other allied healthcare providers, who can actively and effectively screen and provide care for people affected by mental health problems.

According to Swaminathan, the biggest challenge might be bringing access to medicines.

While India is at the forefront in bringing medical access to many developing countries through cost-effective generics, more work should be done on the Intellectual Property (IP) rights to better the access.

“It is the question of finding the balance between IP rights and access and how one could do it,” she says.

It would involve reworking the research and development framework, negotiations and consensus between countries. Swaminathan said, “This is not going to be easy but this is where WHO can play an important role.”

“But I think my experience and passion for public health will be something that will drive me over the next couple of years,” she adds, as she heads off to take a look around the new lab.

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