Mumbai: Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, expects US President-elect Barack Obama to continue to keep health a priority issue despite the economic contraction and budget constraints.

''I hope the new president would be able to provide resources to India to address health,'' Gates said.

He said while ''it is true that funding would depend on the health of the economy,'' he did not see huge cutbacks on allocations for health.

''Clearly 1990s and early 2000s saw a good economic growth in the US as well as India, but the US economy would see a setback for a few years to come,'' he said.

Gates, who voted in absentia before leaving the US for India, said he hoped President Barack Obama would drive home change.

Gates said he did not campaign for a candidate, but took a position on issues. Both  Obama and his rival John McCain, have made strong commitments to public health spending. So I'm hopeful that challenges will be met, Gates sad.

He hoped Obama would rather increase the budget on public health and deliver on priorities. Hopefully, US will make a stronger commitment to global health under the new president, he added. 

Gates said the recent measures aimed at banning the use of tobacco and tobacco products and India's efforts in polio eradication and prevention of HIV/AIDS deserve wider support and expressed confidence that polio would be successfully eradicated with India leading the way.

Gates said the health and family welfare ministry and its partner agencies were holding serious discussions on introducing the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in some regions of the country.

''We are going to ensure that there are enough funds to introduce this in certain areas of the country where polio is endemic and eradication has been difficult,'' he said.

The year 2009 would be crucial for polio eradication in India and in the next couple of years the disease would hopefully be driven out of the country, he said.

India accounted for 35 per cent (496) of all polio cases reported worldwide (1,431) during 2008 while India accounted for 51 per cent (340) of all the cases worldwide (669)b reported this time last year. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar accounted for 96.6 per cent (844) of polio cases in India in 2007.

Gates also met prime minister Manmohan Singh and discussed areas of cooperation between his Foundation and the health ministry.

''Bill Gates met the PM and discussed areas of support between the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation and the ministry of health and family welfare,'' a Prime Minister's Office statement said.

The Foundation has been providing grants for public health activities, notably in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention and communication.