Swasth Uttar Purv programme launched to boost healthcare in NE

The first phase will be implemented in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram

In order to enhance public health efforts in North Eastern (NE) states of India, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) launched ‘Swasth Uttar Purv: Healthy North East’ initiative, at a recently held event in New Delhi. The programme was launched by CK Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) along with SN Pradhan, Joint Secretary, DoNER.

Under the initiative, the PHFI and DoNER will provide technical assistance to the state governments of NE and civil society partners for implementation of public health projects and programmes in the region. The first phase will be implemented in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram. The programmewill promote policy and programmes relevant research by conducting impact assessment and policy dialogues, conducting North East relevant summits and workshops as applicable to public health.

Talking about the capacity building programme, Mishra said, “The programme is pooling in resources of varied organisations to a stated common critical objective that is healthcare in the NE region. When we look at health parameters in India, the inequities are huge and capacities are completely different from one place to another. No one common policy can run across the country to solve the problem of all the states. NE has its unique challenges this problem needs to be addressed differently. I hope the programme will go a long way, as it aims to access gaps, analyse and address them.”

“Under this initiative, the technical assistance part is capacity building for the government officials. Doctors need to be trained. The frontline health workers can take care of people’s life once trained. This Public Private Partnership mode can be best in public health,” said SN Pradhan, Joint Secretary, DONER Ministry.

K Srinath Reddy, President, PHFI, said, “DoNER has provided funds for PHFI to launch this major programme for public health strengthening in NE region. We do recognise that NE is an area which requires a great deal of support in strengthening health in all of it’s dimensions. DoNER has enabled us to act as a technical support resource for this particular programme and grant several activities with the Indian Health Institute of Public Health in NE. Some of the activities include training of government public health officials, conducting health conclaves and training government school teachers on health promotion, awareness generation programmes and cancer workshops.”