Assistance for Mother-Child Healthcare Schemes

New Delhi, 21 Mar, 2015: A proposal has been received from Special Envoy to UN Secretary General where they will mobilize foundations and other private stakeholders in India for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) initiatives, which is under consideration.

There are existing agreements for assistance with United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United States of America, Department for International Development (DFID), United Kingdom, and other multilateral organizations, details of such assistance are given below:-

United States Agency for International Development (USAID), USA.

Health Partnership Programme (HPP): – United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provides technical assistance to Government of India’s flagship health programs to achieve population stabilization, integrate health services and nutrition to improve Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health; including HIV/AIDS, polio and TB. The total commitment is USD $256.67 million. The above agreement was signed between Government of India and USAID on 30 September 2010, which will be implemented till 30 September 2018.

Department for International Development (DFID), United Kingdom.

Strategic Health and Nutrition Partnership (SHNP): – Strategic Health and Nutrition Partnership (SHNP) agreement was signed between Government of India and Department for International Development (DFID), United Kingdom, in December 2013, the project will be implemented till March 2018. Technical Assistance of £12 million is provided to support the key programmes of the M/o Health and Family Welfare and M/o Women & Child Development through the Strategic Health and Nutrition Partnership. The key components of above partnership agreement are to (i) Strengthening of nursing and midwifery training infrastructure and implement pilots for stronger role for nurses (ii) Technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, (iii) Evidence generation, capacity building and pilots for Universal Health Coverage, and (iv) (iv) Development and dissemination of evidence on India’s healthcare financing models, which includes improvingReproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health.

Support to National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS): – DFID has agreed to provide Technical Support of £3 million for implementation of National Family Health Survey-4. The goal of NFHS-4 is to improve planning, delivery and monitoring of policies and programmes for Health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Government, donors, UN and civil society have access to, and are able to use, recent and reliable data on Health and Nutrition and WASH issues. The Agreement was signed in December 2013 and will end in March 2016.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

UNFPA has been providing support through a series of five-year Country Programme cycles. Currently, Country Programme-8 (2013-2017) is being implemented. The total funds available are $ 70 million. The focus of Country Programme – 8 would be on young population (15-24 years), Reproductive Health, Family Planning & HIV and Sex Selection related programmes. As Adolescents and Youth is a thematic priority area for UNFPA under the current Country Programme, support has been provided in the following areas:

• Communication Strategy: UNFPA supported the development of a communication campaign for Weekly Iron and Folic Supplementation Programme.
• Development of National Adolescent Health Strategy: UNFPA supported the launch of Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK).
• Technical Support Unit for AH Division : A small TSU to support the Adolescent Health Division in the roll out of RKSK and undertake concurrent monitoring and evaluation.

United Nations International Children`s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)

UNICEF has been providing support through a series of five-year Country Programme cycles. Overall goal of the ongoing country programme (2013-2017) is to advance the rights of children, adolescents and women to survival, growth, development, participation and protection by reducing inequities based on caste, ethnicity, gender, poverty, region or religion.

The focus areas are to improve coverage and quality of community- and facility-based Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) services. The programme will focus on improving supportive supervision and quality assurance of: 1) community- and facility-based newborn care, 2) management of childhood illnesses (pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria) and pediatrics AIDS, 3), immunization services, and 4) comprehensive maternal health services along the continuum of care which includes quality ante natal services and integrated prevention of transmission of HIV from parents to their children. UNICEF has been providing technical assistance for 84 High Priority Districts under Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) initiative.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)

A Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) was signed between Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2012 to support a National immunization technical Support Unit, which is providing support in the areas of 1. Monitoring and evaluation, 2. Cold chain and supply chain logistics, 3. Strategic communication and demand generation, 4. Evidences to policy translation, 5. Adverse events following immunization, and 6. Strategic planning. The overall objective of this Memorandum of Cooperation is to improve the routine immunization system, especially in states where vaccination is low.

Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI)

The GAVI Alliance a public private partnership, its partners include developing countries and donor governments, WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialized and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society organizations, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists.

GAVI committed for support to the tune of USD 422.10 million by December 2016. The breakup are (i) 31.67 million for Hepatitis B vaccine (activity completed) (ii) USD 18.43 million for Injection safety (activity completed) (iii) USD 265.00 million for Pentavalent vaccine (ongoing activity), and (iv) USD 107.00 million for Health System Strengthening (ongoing activity). A grant proposal for inclusion of Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) under the Routine Immunization Porgramme had been submitted to GAVI Alliance for the requirement of 216,521,450 doses of IPV vaccine from 2015- 2018 with 10 dose packing of value approximately €162.39 Million.

Entwicklungsbank (KfW) 

The Government of Germany has provided significant financial assistance to various projects in health sector under Indo-German Development Cooperation. Since 1998, KfW has been providing support to Polio Eradication Initiative. The funds are being utilized to support procurement of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), surveillance activities limited to equipment and supplies for the laboratory network and procurement of cold chain equipments for pulse polio and Immunization. KfW’s current assistance for Euro 52 million (50 million loan + 2 million grant) under Pulse Polio Immunization Program is available for procurement of cold chain equipments. The above financing agreement was signed in 2009 between KfW and M/o Finance, and would be effective until December 2015.

Besides, technical assistance has been provided by the United Nations International Children`s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Department for International Development (DFID), Norway- India Partnership Initiative (NIPI), and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for implementation of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) initiative for achievement of the MDGs and 12th Five Year Plan goals. 184 High priority Districts across 29 states were identified for focused and integrated planning and monitoring of RMNCH+A interventions.CCI Newswire