COVID-19 and Global Distributive Justice: 'Health Diplomacy' of India and South Africa for the TRIPS waiver

The rise of India's global health diplomacy amid COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of global health diplomacy (GHD), with India emerging as a key player. India's commitment to GHD is demonstrated by its active participation in regional and multilateral projects, pharmaceutical expertise, and large-scale manufacturing capabilities, which include the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and essential medicines. India has supported nations in need through bilateral and multilateral platforms, providing vaccines to countries experiencing shortages and offering technical assistance and capacity-building programs to improve healthcare infrastructure and response capabilities. India's unique approach to GHD, rooted in humanitarian diplomacy, emphasized collaboration and empathy and stressed the well-being of humanity by embracing the philosophy of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam," which translates to "the world is one family." Against this background, this paper's main focus is to analyze the rise of India's GHD amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and its leadership in addressing various global challenges. India has demonstrated its commitment to global solidarity by offering medical supplies, equipment, and expertise to more than 100 countries. India's rising global leadership can be attributed to its proactive approach, humanitarian diplomacy, and significant contributions to global health initiatives.

A critical analysis of COVAX alliance and corresponding global health governance and policy issues: a scoping review

INTRODUCTION

The COVAX alliance is a novel approach to international partnership in global health intended to achieve the worthy goal of 'COVID-19 vaccine equity'. This study aimed to identify the implementation challenges and framework gaps of COVAX and to explore the interconnected global health policy and governance gaps in ensuring equity, accessibility and affordability of vaccines.

METHODS

A scoping review was conducted to identify the implementation challenges and framework gaps of COVAX and related global health policy and governance gaps. A search was carried out in PubMed, Scopus, Springer Link and Embase databases. Manually searched the grey literature, such as official reports and articles. EndNote V.20 was used to manage the evidence screening, and data extraction was carried out in Microsoft Excel.

RESULTS

Searches of four electronic databases and official UN, GAVI and WHO websites identified 4686 pieces of evidence. The 937 duplicates were removed, and the remaining 3749 articles were screened for the title and abstract. Most articles were eliminated as they do not address global COVAX or COVID-19 vaccine equity. The remaining 53 pieces of evidence were reviewed for full text, and ultimately 40 articles found eligible were included in the scoping review.

CONCLUSIONS

The implementation challenges of COVAX were attributed mainly to the phenomenon of vaccine nationalism by rich countries. The future global health policy and governance structure must be re-examined to address the inadequacies of such novel super public-and-private partnership models.