India and Norway sign MoU to extend health cooperation

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Norway to extend the cooperation within the health sector through the Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) for a period of 3 years starting from 2018 to 2020. This cooperation is aligned with the development goals of Government of India as outlined in its National Health Policy 2017 for achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The cooperation shall also focus on global health issues of common interest. The partnership shall also include areas related to maternal, new-born, child health, and shall build on experiences from NIPI phase I and II. The cooperation will continue to focus on innovative, catalytic, and strategic support, and stride in taking the Indian government’s Intensification Plan for Accelerated Maternal and Child Survival in India.

NIPI Phase III (2018–2020) will scale up to the intensified districts, and also establish an innovation hub. The best practices in maternal and newborn child health carried out under the NHM and NIPI shall be shared for global dissemination and learning and thereby enabling scaling up.  In the recent World Health Assembly, Family Participatory Care, an initiative of NIPI was showcased as an India case study.

The Governments of Norway and India had agreed in 2006 to collaborate toward achieving MDG 4 to reduce child mortality based on commitments made by the two Prime Ministers. The partnership was based on India’s health initiative, the 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 and also as a RMNCHA+ partner in Jammu & Kashmir.