New Delhi (NVI): The Union Cabinet today gave its ex-post-facto approval to the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between India and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) on cooperation in the field of health.
The MoC was signed between the Department of Health & Family Welfare (DOHFW), Government of India and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) on November, 2019 during the visit of Bill Gates, co-chairman and trustee of BMGF to Delhi.
The MoC is aimed to reduce maternal, neonatal and child morbidity and mortality, improve key nutrition outcomes, by improving the reach, coverage and quality of essential primary health, immunization and nutrition services.
It is also aimed at strengthening health systems, including aspects such as budget utilization, management and skills of human resources for health, digital health, strengthening supply chains and monitoring systems.
This MoC will increase the basket of choice and quality for family planning methods, specially for reversible methods, and increase access amongst younger women.
It will also reduce the burden of select infectious diseases [TB, Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL), Lymphatic Filariasis(LF)].
A Program Action Committee (PAC) will be set up to further elaborate the details of cooperation and to oversee the implementation of this Memorandum of Cooperation.
