The Meghalaya government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) to boost health, nutrition and agriculture.
Meghalaya is only the third state in India, after Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with whom the Gates Foundation is establishing a partnership.
Through the agreement, both will 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.
The MoU called for the realisation of efficient and effective healthcare solutions in Meghalaya and 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 four-year agreement will facilitate successful delivery of the set objectives in the paper with efficiency checkups, monitoring, and evaluation.
The BMGF will provide both financial and technical support to improve outcomes in twelve key areas such as 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.
The collaboration is based on three strategically oriented goals for changing the current state of health care. 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. The partnership aims to promote health and nutrition services provided by government and non-government organizations with special reference to gender and to build the capacity of local institutions by ensuring that they are involved in policy formulation, research and breakthroughs in healthcare to support sustainable change.
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.
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.
Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma emphasized the importance of the collaboration to make life better for the citizens.” He stressed on improving the socio-economic conditions of mothers and the female population at large.
Health Minister, Ampareen Lyngdoh said, “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.”
Director – India Country Office & South & Southeast Asia Director, BMGF M. Hari Menon 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.”
