Indonesia is poised to play a greater role on the global stage next year when it assumes the Group of 20 (G20) presidency. Succeeding Italy as the current holder of the G20 presidency, Indonesia's G20 presidency will be a major milestone for the country to play a leading role in bringing together G20 countries to agree on a set of policies and an action plan to tackle a wide range of challenges, from finance to development, and from health to the environment.

In this pandemic era, one major issue that will stand out during Indonesia's presidency will be how the world can better handle the impacts of COVID-19 and prepare for future pandemics. During the current Italian presidency, this issue has taken center stage and received a great deal of attention given the overarching impacts of the pandemic on humankind.

A number of policies, strategies and an actionable plan have been laid out by G20 countries to ensure the ongoing pandemic can be brought to an end and that the world can be better prepared when pandemics and other public health emergencies strike.

Throughout the global response to the public health emergencies for almost two years since the onset of pandemic, the world has learned numerous lessons. The world has learned what has and what has not worked in its preparedness and response mechanisms against global health threats.

Tapping into the lessons learned thus far, and building on the progress made by G20 countries in dealing with the pandemic, Indonesia is well-placed to galvanize countries across the world to put the pandemic under control, build greater resilience in healthcare systems, and lay out an actionable plan to deal with health crises in the future.

With the world still grappling with the issues surrounding deployment of medical countermeasures to fight COVID-19, Indonesia could spearhead collective efforts to ensure equitable and universal access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. The country may also draw upon its vast experience in running a vaccination campaign to improve vaccine acceptance among the population.

To address inequitable and delayed distribution of vaccines that has plagued some low- and middle-income countries, Indonesia could look into the possibility of developing its capacity to serve as a potential hub for manufacture of vaccines, as well as therapeutic and diagnostic tools.

Low- and middle-income countries have enjoyed better access to COVID-19 vaccines thanks to the COVAX Facility coordinated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO). That said, ensuring the establishment of more geographically dispersed hubs for manufacturing vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics could provide an enormous added value to the effort to achieve equitable, universal and rapid access to these essential medical tools in the event of a public health emergency.

Laying the groundwork for this global initiative will definitely take time and sustained effort. It may involve painstaking bilateral and multilateral negotiations and cooperation, transfer of technology and knowledge sharing, as well as waiving of some intellectual property rights under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Right (TRIPS) Agreement.

However, such an initiative will be critically important in the global preparedness and response and will contribute significantly to the rapid and timely deployment of medical countermeasures in times of emergency. This will also help create much-needed self-reliance in essential medical supplies for developing countries, thereby dispensing with the need to be reliant on developed countries for their own national preparedness and response plan.

Perhaps the most contentious issue would be how countries in support of more geographically dispersed hubs for manufacturing essential medical tools make the case that that would be the best course of action to take. With the groundswell of opinion among developing countries in favor of a mechanism of TRIPS waiver – albeit with a degree of resistance from some advanced economies – Indonesia could ride on the momentum of its G20 presidency to push for greater acceptance of a TRIPS waiver mechanism.

Another crucial lesson learned during the pandemic is that healthcare systems globally have been overstretched in their capacities to deal with public health emergencies. The global response to the pandemic has revealed the indispensable role of digital healthcare delivery. The most immediate advantage of digital healthcare delivery is that it has helped many people access healthcare services without making in-person visits to healthcare facilities, thereby safeguarding themselves from the virus.

Indonesia has made big strides in the development and implementation of digital health, and the government continues to promote the appropriate use of digital technologies in health care. It is obvious that use of digital health will enhance the quality of healthcare services, expand the coverage of services and contribute to the achievement of universal health coverage.

Given its pivotal role in strengthening, and even transforming, healthcare systems, digital health should be high on the agenda, and justifiably so, during Indonesia's G20 presidency.

Many other related health issues will be front and center during Indonesia's G20 presidency, including value based health care, and most notably antimicrobial resistance, which has the potential to become a “silent” pandemic in the future.

Under the overarching theme "Recover Together, Recover Stronger", Indonesia is now doing its homework for a leading role that will help the world achieve better resilience in global health.

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The writer is a consultant at Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Indonesia Secretariat, Health Ministry. The views expressed are his own.

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