Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi participated in the Quad Cancer Moonshot event hosted by President Joseph R Biden, on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, US, on 21 September.

Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister deeply appreciated this thoughtful initiative of President Biden aimed at preventing, detecting and treating cervical cancer. He stated that the programme would go a long way in providing affordable, accessible and quality healthcare to people in Indo-Pacific countries.

He noted that India was also undertaking a mass cervical cancer screening programme in the country. Talking of India’s health security efforts, he mentioned that the country has developed a cervical cancer vaccine and is working on an artificial intelligence (AI) based treatment protocol for the disease. 

As India’s contribution to the Cancer Moonshot initiative, Prime Minister announced the dedication of a grant of $7.5 million to cancer testing, screening, and diagnostics in the Indo-Pacific region. Prime Minister also announced that India will provide support for radiotherapy treatment and capacity building for cancer prevention in Indo-Pacific.

He also mentioned that Indo-Pacific countries will be benefiting from the supply of 40 million doses of vaccine from India under GAVI and QUAD programmes.

India will also offer technical assistance to interested countries in the Indo-Pacific region on digital public infrastructure (DPI) for cancer screening, care and continuum through its $10 million contribution to WHO’s-Global Initiative on Digital Health.