Norway, India join hands to improve infant, maternal mortality

The second phase of the Norway- India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) on reducing infant and maternal mortality was launched here and will involve funding to the tune of USD 50 million.

The programme is designed to improve delivery of infant and maternal health services in select Indian states under the umbrella of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and now enters its second phase starting 2013 to 2017 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

Funding under the second phase of the initiative will be to the extent of USD 50 million, with its focus on improving quality continuum of care interventions at community and facility level in NIPI and some other selected districts.

It also aims at setting up a mechanism for sustainable institutional collaboration between Norwegian and Indian public and private institutions in areas related to women and child health, besides facilitating dialogue on global health between Norway and India.

The first phase of the partnership was initiated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Norwegian counterpart Jens Stoltenberg in 2006 towards achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 by 2015.

Addressing a Joint Steering Committee meeting after the signing of MoU, Norway’s Ambassador to India Eivind S Homme said, “The success of the first phase towards contributions to the NRHM for scaling up home-based new-born care, sick and new born care units and techno-managerial support has been very encouraging for all of us. With the Phase II in place now, we hope to contribute to the overall NRHM goals in the country.”

NIPI completed its first phase of operation in 2012 in the focus states of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and Rajasthan.

Based on the experiences gained and results achieved since the beginning of NIPI in 2006, the duration of the programme is now extended to coincide with the new NRHM plan 2013-2017.

NIPI Phase II will continue in the same states of the first phase. NIPI interventions will also be there in some districts of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam.

Since its inception, NIPI has demonstrated some clear successes enhancing the visibility of the child health issues with special focus on survival of the new born.

NIPI will continue with a focus on maternal and new-born health, especially the continuum of care from home to facility, and capacity building of health personnel