India, Norway to extend partnership in healthcare sector

At a meeting in Oslo on Monday between Health Secretary P K Pradhan and Norway's Secretary General from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bente Angell-Hansen signed a letter of intent to initiate Phase II of the Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) on reducing child and maternal mortality.

NIPI is a partnership between India and Norway to improve delivery of child and maternal health services in select states under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

The partnership was initiated in 2006 by the Prime Ministers of India and Norway Manmohan Singh and Jens Stoltenberg.

"India has achieved impressive gains in reducing maternal and child mortality since the introduction of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2006. We would like to contribute to keeping this momentum going and strengthen it further with the Norway India Partnership Initiative," Angell-Hansen was quoted as saying in a NIPI statement.