Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural function of Grand Challenges Annual Meeting 2020, on October 19 at 7:30 PM via video conferencing, said Prime Minister's Office in a statement.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched Grand Challenges in Global Health in 2003 to focus on 14 major scientific challenges in healthcare This year programme is will convene virtually from October 19-21, bringing together policymakers and scientific leaders, calling for deepened scientific collaborations in solving global health problems, with great emphasis on COVID-19 with an “India for the World” framing.
The three-day program will feature leaders talks, panel discussions and virtual informal conversations on topics ranging from scientific interventions for fighting the pandemic, managing the pandemic and accelerating the development and implementation of global solutions to combat this pandemic and prevent the next one. Approximately 1600 people from 40 countries will participate in this Annual meeting.
The Grand Challenges Annual Meeting 2020 is being be co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, the Indian Council of Medical Research and NITI Aayog, along with the Grand Challenges Canada, the United States Agency for International Development and Wellcome.
Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Dr Harsh Vardhan will deliver the opening remarks. Bill Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will present the plenary framing conversation.
Grand Challenges India was set up as a partnership of the Department of Biotechnology and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2012, and Wellcome also joined the partnership. Grand Challenges India works across a range of health and developmental priorities ranging from agriculture, nutrition, sanitation, maternal and child health to infectious diseases.
