India has potential to influence global health

NEW DELHI: India's success has tremendous potential to influence global health and to catalyze rapid improvements through innovation and partnerships with other countries, said John A Beed, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) India Mission Director today.

"India's leadership and commitment to ending preventable child and maternal deaths has the potential to influence greatly health outcomes globally," said Beed as he along with senior officials from Union Health Ministry convened today to celebrate the successes of the five-year USAID-supported Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) as it draws to a close.

The event celebrated the program's successes, reflected on lessons learnt and discussed the way forward in partnership with the Government of India.

This US $17 million program, which ran from 2009 through 2014, was instrumental in the establishment of five National Nodal Centers of Excellence for nursing and midwifery education across the country.

MCHIP initiated postpartum family planning services in 117 facilities, provided essential newborn care to 21,030 newborns, and immunized 20 million children with the final dose of diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT-3), which is a vital gauge of how well countries are providing immunization coverage for their children.