Geneva: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, thanked India for its dedication and support to the WHO after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s virtual speech to the 78th Session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday from New Delhi.

“Namaste, Prime Minister @narendramodi, for joining us virtually at a historic #WHA78 when the Pandemic Accord was adopted,” Ghebreyesus said in a post shared on X. We appreciate India’s dedication to and assistance with @WHO.

In his remarks at the World Health Assembly on Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi emphasized India’s contributions to international health programs under the overarching theme of “One World for Health.”

Namaste , Prime Minister @narendramodi, for joining us virtually at a historic #WHA78 when the #PandemicAccord was adopted. We are grateful for #India's commitment and support to @WHO. https://t.co/pFX82Rd3le

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) May 21, 2025

PM Modi brought up India’s Ayushman Bharat Program, which offers free medical care to 580 million people and is the biggest health insurance program in the world.

Inclusion, integrated vision, and cooperation are the three pillars he named for the future of a healthy planet.

“Inclusion, an integrated vision, and teamwork are essential to a healthy future. The foundation of India’s health reforms is inclusion. We manage the biggest health insurance program in the world, Ayushman Bharat. It offers free medical care to 580 million people. According to PM Modi, this scheme was recently expanded to include all Indians above 70.

In order to combat future pandemics with more collaboration, PM Modi thanked the WHO and member nations for the successful negotiations of the INB Treaty.

“I congratulate all Member States and the WHO on the successful INB Treaty discussions. It is a pledge to work together more effectively to combat pandemics in the future and create a healthy world. “Let’s make sure nobody gets left behind,” he remarked.

The 78th World Health Assembly saw the unanimous adoption of the first-ever pandemic agreement by WHO member states.

In addition to reiterating respect for national sovereignty in public health choices, the pact aims to improve international cooperation and guarantee fair access to life-saving resources during future pandemics.

“Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) member states formally adopted by consensus the world’s first Pandemic Agreement,” the WHO said in a news statement on Tuesday. More than three years of intense negotiations by governments in response to the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of making the world safer from – and more equitable in response to – future pandemics, culminated in the historic decision by the 78th World Health Assembly.