India, Norway to work together in maternal, adolescent health

New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) India and Norway have signed a Letter of Intent to extend health cooperation, especially in the areas of reproductive, maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health, said an statement on Thursday.

According to the Union Health Ministry, the cooperation between India and Norway will continue to be aligned with the development goals of India as outlined in its National Health Policy 2017 for achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

The letter of intent was inked by Union Health Secretary C.K. Mishra and Norwegian Ambassador Nils Ragnar Kamsvag. The initiative will be through the Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) for a period of three years starting from 2018.

"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," said the ministry in a statement.

The Indian and Norwegian Governments had agreed in 2006 to collaborate towards achieving Millenium Development Goals 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 main activities in Phase I (2006-2012) were home-based new born care, Yashoda through State health system, establishing Sick Newborn Care Units, techno managerial support, and providing strategic support for immunization and Public Private Partnership initiatives.