Meghalaya partners with Gates foundation to improve health, nutrition & agriculture

Shillong: The Government of Meghalaya and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) made a major stride in the area of health, nutrition, and agriculture today when they entered into an MoU to work together towards improving population health outcomes of the state, particularly related to maternal and newborn health, family planning, nursing education, agriculture, and livestock development.  Meghalaya is only the third state in India, after Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with whom the Gates Foundation is establishing a partnership. M. Hari Menon, Director of the India Country Office at the Gates Foundation, and Sampath Kumar, Principal Secretary to the state government, Health and Family Welfare Department, on behalf of the state, signed the MoU.

The MoU signed today called for the realization of efficient and effective healthcare solutions in Meghalaya, and the parties also pledged to undertake numerous activities in the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, especially the health-related goal for the year 2030.

Through the MoU, BMGF will provide both financial and technical support to improve outcomes in twelve key areas: 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.

Speaking at the signing event, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma emphasized the importance of this collaboration and said, “We are happy and excited about the partnership that we are going to have with the Gates Foundation. We need to have the right-minded people with the right desire, goal, and mindset to sit together and try to resolve the problems, the institutional setups, and the plans that we have.”

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