India hosts three-day Quad workshop on pandemic preparedness

The event is part of India’s presidency of the Quad grouping, which includes the US, Japan and Australia, and is an outcome of the Quad Leaders’ Summit held last September.

Published on: Mar 17, 2025, 12:41:48 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar

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Senior health officials and technical experts from Quad member states and 15 countries across the Indo-Pacific Region are participating in a workshop on pandemic preparedness in India.

Doctors conduct Covid-19 tests in Mumbai in April 17, 2020. (Satish Bate/HT File Photo)

The ‘Quad Workshop on Pandemic Preparedness for the Indo-Pacific Region’, which began on Monday and will continue till March 19, will focus on pandemic preparedness, particularly governance, surveillance and innovation, the external affairs ministry said.

The event is part of India’s presidency of the Quad grouping, which includes the US, Japan and Australia, and is an outcome of the Quad Leaders’ Summit held last September. Cooperation on health issues has emerged as a key pillar of the Quad.

Panel discussions at the workshop will focus on strengthening global health frameworks, enhancing preparedness and resilience, ensuring coordinated pandemic responses, and implementing the ‘One Health’ approach.

There will also be discussions on risk communication, community engagement, disease surveillance and capacity building, the ministry said.

Participants will engage in group work and simulations on pandemics such as avian influenza, Mpox and Ebola, refining response strategies, and promoting cross-border coordination.

The foreign delegates will gain first-hand insight into India’s public health infrastructure, surveillance systems and emergency response capabilities. They will also visit the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the National Centre for Vector-Borne Disease Control.

Apart from senior health officials and technical experts from the Quad member states, the workshop has attracted more than 25 delegates from 15 other countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, the Maldives, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Thailand, and international health organisations.

The inaugural session of the workshop, inaugurated by minister of state for health Anupriya Patel, was addressed by principal scientific advisor Ajay Kumar Sood, Union health secretary Punya Srivastava, additional secretary in the health ministry, V Hekali Zhimomi, and additional secretary (Americas) in the external affairs ministry, Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur.

The Quad workshop is a “milestone in building a more robust, coordinated health security framework for the Indo-Pacific”, the ministry said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More

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