Norway-India partnership to accelerate reduction of ''under-5 child mortality''
18 Jul 2006
Mumbai:
The governments of Norway and India today launched a multi-partner
initiative aimed at accelerating progress towards ''millennium
development goals'' under the National Rural Health Mission
(NRHM).
The initiative will focus on the five states with the
highest number of child deaths — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa — and involve multiple
partners, including UNICEF and WHO. The partnership is
the outcome of discussions on bilateral cooperation between
Norway''s prime minister Jens Stoltenberg and Dr Manmohan
Singh at New Delhi in December last year.
"Our belief is that this partnership will become
the model to reduce infant mortality for countries across
the globe," said Prassana Hota, secretary health
and family welfare. "With the commitment of the two
prime ministers and the support of international organisations
such as UNICEF we have all the conditions to succeed,"
Hota added.
At the first stakeholders meeting held in Delhi today,
the overview of the initiative was discussed, institutional
arrangements formalised, and role of partner agencies
including UNICEF and WHO were formalised. Representatives
from the five target states as well as partner organisations
responsible for coordination attended the meeting. Hota
and Inge Tveite, councellor, Royal Norwegian Embassy chaired
the meeting.
"Since the early ''90s the Government of Norway has
been committed to a wide range of development issues giving
almost 1 per cent of our gross national income as development
assistance," Tveite said. He also said that according
to the ''millennium development goals'' set out by the United
Nations child mortality should be reduced by two-thirds
by the year 2015. "We truly believe that if we work
together we can achieve these goals thus saving millions
of children, which in turn will ensure that that more
countries have healthier and better educated people, healthier
and stronger economies and that more countries will become
safer with more equitable societies," he added.
As one of the partners responsible for implementation,
UNICEF will be responsible for strengthening availability
of vaccine logistics and cold chain systems, training
and enabling accredited social health activists (ASHAs)
for home-based newborn and child care and facilitating
integrated management of neo natal and child illness (IMNCI)
implementation at the district level. WHO will enhance
overall programme support, strengthen surveillance and
extend services on maternal health including training
of birth attendants and development of accreditation systems
for reproductive maternal health and newborn health facilities.
The initiative aims to achieve measurable outcomes in
line with the fourth ''millennium development goals'' (MDG-4)
including a sustained routine immunisation coverage rate
at 80 per cent or more from 2007 onwards and saving an
additional 0.5 million under-5 children each year from
2009.
Though child mortality rates have been declining over
the last few decades, UNICEF''s State of the World''s
Children Report 2006 projects India''s under-5 mortality
rate (at the current rate of decline) at 55 per 1,000
live births, far below the MDG-4 target of 41. The five
target states continue to witness the highest number of
child deaths, contributing as much as 60 per cent to the
total number of infant deaths reported in the country.
The Norway India Partnership Initiative will focus on
four core areas in the five high-prevalence states
- Strengthening the National Rural Health Mission, by supporting an independently managed enabling network and facilitating delivery of MDG-4 related services.
- Testing and introduction of new ways of scaling up quality services by community health workers (ASHA''s) at the village level in the five states including their support needs and referral requirements.
- Involving the private sector in the delivery of MDG 4 related services at all levels
- Exploring and providing upfront catalytic financial and strategic support for new opportunities under the NRHM-MDG-4 related activities
A joint Norway-India steering committee will govern this partnership under the chairmanship of the secretary, health and family welfare. Other members of the committee would include the ambassador of Norway in India; the secretary, department of biotechnology; additional secretary and mission director, National Rural Health Mission; representatives of WHO, UNICEF.
The
partnership will aim to operate at a national level with
rigorous monitoring and evaluation along clearly defined
milestones. The funds would be channelised through the
programme partners (UNICEF and WHO)
