Geneva, May 19 (IANS): Indian Health Minister J.P. Nadda on Tuesday pitched for members of the non-aligned group of countries to harness their collective bargaining powers to make new medicines and medical technologies available to their people at affordable costs.

In his address at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) health ministers' meeting, organised on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly here, Nadda stressed on the importance of yoga as one which provides holistic health and well-being. He also emphasized on adopting healthy lifestyles and avoiding excesses.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a call in the United Nations General Assembly in September last year to recognize yoga as a provider of holistic approach to health and well-being. We are happy to note that the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, with co-sponsorship from 177 countries, to observe June 21 as the International Day of Yoga," he said.

Nadda said that India has consistently worked for the advancement of the NAM agenda, objectives and principles and wants greater collaboration in health research among NAM countries.

India's major focus now is on accelerating the pace of development of useful diagnostics, re-agents, therapeutics, and prevention methods for communicable diseases such as those caused by viruses, bacteria, and parasites and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cancer, he said.

"Our long-term aim is to make these modalities available to populations in low and middle-income countries at affordable costs," he said.

Nadda said in the present global health scenario, NAM can provide thought leadership on the issue of promoting health equity and reducing health inequity among nations as well as within nations.

"Regular sharing of best practices would greatly help our common cause, on cost-effective scalable interventions, especially targeting maternal and child health care and non-communicable diseases," he said.