India and Norway today extended bilateral cooperation within the health sector through the Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) for a period of three years starting 2018, the government said.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare signed the Letter of Intent with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of the Government of Norway here to this effect.
Health Secretary C K Mishra and Ambassador of Norway to India Nils Ragnar Kamsvag signed the letter that would allow cooperation between India and Norway to continue to be aligned with the development goals of the Indian government, as outlined in its National Health Policy 2017 for achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Health Ministry said in a statement.
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The cooperation shall focus on global health issues of common interest.
The partnership shall also include areas related to reproductive, maternal, new-born, child, adolescent (RMNCH+A) health and health system strengthening, and shall build on experiences from NIPI phase I and II, it said.
"The cooperation will continue to focus on innovative, catalytic and strategic support, taking the Indian government's Intensification Plan for Accelerated Maternal and Child Survival in India as the starting point," the statement said.
The governments of Norway and India had agreed in 2006 to collaborate towards achieving MDG (Millennium Development Goal) 4 to reduce child mortality based on commitments made by the two prime ministers.
The partnership was based on India's health initiative, the National Health Mission (NHM), and aimed at facilitating rapid scale-up of quality child and maternal health services in four high focus states - Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the ministry said.
The main activities in Phase I (2006-2012) were home- based new born care (HBNC), Yashoda through State health system, establishing Sick Newborn Care Units (SNCU), techno managerial support, and providing strategic support for immunisation and Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives.
The governments of India and Norway decided to extend the partnership to coincide with the second phase of National Health Mission plan (NHM) for a period of five years (2013- 17).
Besides the four states already supported by NIPI, Jammu and Kashmir, was added as a fifth state with NIPI being the lead partner for RMNCH+A activities.
The NIPI through its work in the last ten years (2007- 2017) has resulted in newer initiatives. In addition to trying out innovations, NIPI has also supported NHM by providing credible technical support in the five states and at national level, the Health Ministry said.
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