PM Modi announces $7.5 mn grant, 40 mn vaccine doses to help Quad fight cervical cancer

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a grant of a whopping $7.5 million in support of sampling kits, detection kits and vaccines which will help the Quad nations in their battle against cervical cancer. The proclamation from the Prime Minister came while he was addressing the Cancer Moonshot event in Delaware. The event was held on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders’ Summit.

During his address on Saturday, PM Modi laid out India’s vision of ‘One Earth One Health’. The Indian premier is on a three-day visit to the United States, during which he attended the summit, held a bilateral meeting with the Quad leaders and will be addressing the United Nations General Assembly. Before announcing the grant, the Prime Minister highlighted the initiatives taken by India to fight cervical cancer.

He insisted that India will be open to sharing its experience and expertise with Quad and the world. “I want to thank President Biden for organising this event. This reflects our shared determination to provide affordable, accessible and quality health care. During the COVID pandemic, we had taken the Quad Vaccine initiative for the Indo-Pacific and I am glad that in the Quad, we have decided to jointly tackle challenges like cervical cancer. In cancer care, collaboration is essential for the cure,” PM Modi said.

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My remarks at the Quad Leaders' Cancer Moonshot event. https://t.co/Q9avnKJVs6

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 21, 2024

PM calls for an ‘integrated approach’

The Cancer Moonshot is a White House initiative that aims to bring renewed leadership in the world’s fight against cancer. During the event, PM Modi called for the need to have an “integrated approach while battling the disease. “An integrated approach of prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment is necessary to reduce the burden of cancer. In India, a very cost-effective cervical cancer screening program is being carried out,” he explained.

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The Prime Minister emphasised that India has developed its own vaccine for the disease. Along with this, he noted that the country is using Artificial Intelligence to introduce new treatment protocols.

“India is running the world’s largest health insurance scheme and special centres have also been set up to make medicines available to everyone at affordable cost. India has also developed its own vaccine for cervical cancer and new treatment protocols are also being introduced with the help of Artificial Intelligence,” PM Modi asserted.

“India is ready to share its experience and expertise. Today, many experts from India working in cancer care have joined us in this event. India’s vision is One Earth One Health. I announce the support of sampling kits, detection kits and vaccines worth USD 7.5 million,” he added.

Modi noted that India will cooperate with radiotherapy treatment and plans to provide 40 million vaccine doses for the Indo-Pacific region. “India will also cooperate in radiotherapy treatment and capacity building. I am happy that India will contribute 40 million vaccine doses for Indo-Pacific countries under GAVI and QUAD initiatives. These 40 million vaccine doses will become a ray of hope in the lives of crores of people. As you can see when the QUAD acts, it is not just for nations. This is the true essence of our human-centric approach,” he said.

About the Cancer Moonshot event 

Cancer Moonshot is an initiative well in place across the US government along with the public and private sectors. The aim of the initiative is to lay out a solid foundation to fight against cancer. As of now the US, under the initiative has announced more than 95 new programs, policies, and resources to address five priority actions.

170 private companies, non-profits, academic institutions, and patient groups are also collaborating with the government in this initiative. Last month, the US Embassy in New Delhi conducted the first ever US-India Cancer Moonshot Dialogue on August 5-6 at the National Institute of Immunology. The event was hosted by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the dialogue focused on strengthening US-India biomedical research cooperation.

With inputs from agencies.