India, Britain to cooperate on health

India and Britain Monday decided to strengthen cooperation in the health sector with special focus on public health infrastructure.

The decision was taken at a bilateral meeting held between Health Secretary Lov Verma and Una O'Brien, permanent secretary in Britain's department of health, an official release said.

Copies of an agreement regarding cooperation in the health sector between India and Britain, which was signed in 2013, were also exchanged at the meeting.

The purpose of the bilateral meeting was to further expand the activities under the agreement and to identify more institutional partnerships at national or state levels to further the collaboration in specific areas.

The agreement comprises development of a joint work programme with a set of defined and time specified activities over a five-year period, with the aim to improve collaboration between the two countries and learn from each other's experiences.

The areas identified for cooperation include promoting exchange on health care policy in India and Britain, human resources for health, regulatory issues and health technology development.