Global health meet to highlight India's Indradhanush scheme

India's Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI), which aims to ensure full immunisation of children up to two years of age and pregnant women, will be among the 12 success stories from around the world to be highlighted at a prestigious global meet on infant and maternal health.

The meet -- Partners' Forum -- will be held in New Delhi, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the two-day event on December 12. It will be attended by several heads of state and ministers.

The Partners' Forum aims to drum up momentum and galvanise action to improve the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda said, "India's success story on Mission Indradhanush along with 11 success stories of other countries will be showcased during the conference. These 12 stories, including Mission Indradhanush, will also be featured in the Partners' Forum special issue of the British Medical Journal next month."

Germany and Chile will showcase their learnings on 'Early Childhood Development', USA and Indonesia on 'Adolescent Health and Well Being', India and Cambodia on 'Quality, Equity and Dignity', Malawi and Malaysia on ' Sexual and Reproductive health'.

South Africa and Guatemala will showcase their learnings on 'Empowerment of Women, Girls and Communities' and, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan on 'In Humanitarian and Fragile Settings'.

Asserting that India's efforts in maternal and child care have been strong and focused, Nadda said maternal mortality rate (MMR) has fallen from 556 per lakh live births in 1990 to 130 per lakh live births in 2014-16.

"Our progress can be gauged from the 77 per cent decline in MMR that India achieved during 1990-2015 compared to a global decline of 44 per cent during this period.

"In child health also our achievements have been strong. The under-five mortality rate (U5MR) in India has fallen significantly from 126 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 39 per 1000 live births in 2016," he said.

Partners' Forum will see an impressive gathering of leaders, policy makers, public health experts and practitioners, and health ministers from around the world, Nadda said, adding of the 1,200 participants at the event, around 600 would be from foreign nations.

On the occasion, PM Modi will release a national compendium of 36 interventions and practices that have been implemented across the country.

(With inputs from agencies.)