Shillong, Sept 24: The Government of Meghalaya and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) made a major stride in the area of health, nutrition and agriculture on Tuesday as they entered into an MoU to work together towards improving population health outcomes of the state, particularly related to maternal and newborn health, family planning, nursing education and agriculture and livestock development.

Meghalaya is only the third state in India, after Uttar Pradesh & Bihar, with whom the Gates Foundation is establishing a partnership.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Conrad K Sangma and Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Agriculture, Dr. M Ampareen Lyngdoh. M. Hari Menon, Director of the India Country Office at the Gates Foundation, and Sampath Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya, Health & Family Welfare Department on behalf of the state signed the MoU.

The MoU signed called for the realization of efficient and effective healthcare solutions in Meghalaya, and the parties also pledged to undertake numerous activities in the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, especially the health-related goal for the year 2030. The MoU will last for four years where both stakeholders shall facilitate successful delivery of the set objectives in the paper with efficiency checkups, monitoring, and evaluation.

Through the MoU, BMGF will provide both financial and technical support to improve outcomes in twelve key areas: comprehensive primary healthcare, family planning, maternal health and anaemia, neonatal health, immunisation, childhood wasting and nutrition, nursing education, supply chain management, digital health, results based financing and performance management in healthcare, competency mapping and development for government functionaries, and agriculture and livestock development.

Speaking at the signing event, CM Conrad Sangma emphasized the importance of this collaboration and said, “We are happy and excited about the partnership that we are going to have with Gates Foundation. We need to have the right-minded people with the right desire, goal, and mindset to sit together and try to resolve the problems, the institutional setups, and the plans that we have. We are looking at expertise in terms of knowledge. To conclude, for us what matters is how to make life better for our citizens.”

He also stressed on improving the socio-economic conditions of mothers and the female population at large. “We have started to make plans based on the real problems, the institutional systems and what we have to do to address the problems. We will go the extra mile to make sure that we achieve the goals that we want. It will not be easy, but it is a continuous process,” he said.

Health Minister Dr. Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh added, “We are very happy that you are already in the field for so long, so you are familiar what our gaps are, you are familiar with what we need to get done. I would like to see this community participation. I hope that we will be able to evolve a module which would likely be suitable for replication across the board in North Eastern states and other areas. I am looking forward to the MoU signing.”

The collaboration between the Government of Meghalaya and the Gates Foundation is based on three strategically oriented goals for changing the current state of health care. First, it seeks to lower maternal, neonatal and child mortality through increasing access to family planning, managing anaemia and developing emergency transport to reduce death rates. Second, the partnership aims to promote health and nutrition services provided by government and non-government organizations with special reference to gender. Finally, the partnership will build the capacity of local institutions by ensuring that they are involved in policy formulation, research and breakthroughs in healthcare to support sustainable change.

M. Hari Menon, Director – India Country Office & South & Southeast Asia Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, stated, “Our partnership with the Government of Meghalaya underscores our commitment to ensuring equitable access to essential health and nutrition services. We look forward to partnering with the Government to strengthen the health system, foster innovation, and enhance institutional capacity to help achieve long-term, sustainable health outcomes for the people of Meghalaya.”

Sampath Kumar, Principal Secretary & Development Commissioner, Government of Meghalaya, commented, “It is a significant step in our endeavour towards reaching people of Meghalaya for quality health and nutrition care through this partnership with the Gates Foundation. Altogether, our mission is to develop a health system that can be safe for future generations.”

The partnership will also focus on several key program areas, such as the creation of IT solutions for primary healthcare as well as improving family planning by increasing the number of contraceptive methods and availability. It will also involve enhanced maternal and neonatal health with reference to anaemia and other essential infrastructure joined to hidden childhood wasting and anaemia through supplementary feeding and immunization. Also, nursing education shall be augmented by a redesigned curriculum that is globally competent and improved supply chain management to increase drug and diagnostics availability. Moreover, adopted digital health will improve research-based decision-making capabilities with the use of performance-based financing. There will also be cooperation in areas of agriculture and livestock development emphasizing building value chains and supporting small farmers in the state of Meghalaya.

The Meghalaya State Health Society will be responsible for the coordination of the activities funded by BMGF and monitoring the progress and planning on sustainability. The Gates Foundation will invest financial as well as technical resources, attracting national and international technical support for the state’s health agenda.

Also Read: KSU demands transparency in Meghalaya District Research Fellowship recruitment

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