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Health ministry signs pact with Gates Foundation for support in innovation
- Under the MoC, Gates Foundation will provide technical, management and program design support through its grantees and other partners
- The Foundation will support the ministry’s work towards strengthening the primary health aspects
The Union ministry of health and family welfare on Monday signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
Under the MoC, Gates Foundation will provide technical, management and program design support through its grantees and other partners, with a special focus on innovation, best practices and enhancing performance management, while working closely with the government.
The Foundation will support the ministry’s work towards strengthening the primary health aspects such as reducing maternal and child mortality, improving nutrition services and increasing the immunization reach. Efforts will be made to increase access to family planning measures amongst younger women and reduce the burden of select infectious diseases such as Tuberculosis, Visceral Leishmaniasis and Lymphatic Filariasis. The work will also include strengthening of supply chains and monitoring systems while focusing on budget utilization, management and skills of human resources for health, ultimately bolstering the entire health system.
“The Ministry of Health has put forward an ambitious vision to improve the primary healthcare system in this country–especially for women and children. Our Foundation supports that goal, and we want to partner with India to achieve it,” said Bill Gates, Co-Chair, BMGF.
The government has said that it will use the support to achieve the universal health coverage in the country.
“Our association with Gates Foundation has been a long and fruitful one, be it for Polio eradication or increasing immunization coverage. However, now is the time to work together for providing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) to all our countrymen with an effective and quality-driven primary healthcare system,” said Harsh Vardhan, union health minister.
“We recognize the importance of adopting innovative approaches that will not only address the gaps in the system but also build on all that we have achieved so far. The MoC with the Gates Foundation will be mutually beneficial, and we look forward to working with the Gates Foundation and leveraging their expertise in supporting ministry’s efforts towards strengthening its health systems,” he said.
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First Published:18 Nov 2019, 07:18 PM IST
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