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Norway partners India to fight child mortality

JAIPUR: The Norway-India Partnership Initiative (NIPI), launched by Norway Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg at Rarah in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan earlier this week, will lay emphasis on reducing child and maternal mortality ratios and strengthen the National Health Mission through the joint health programme for children.

Mr. Stoltenberg, addressing a Swasthya Mela at the Rarah Community Health Centre, announced that Norway would provide a grant of Rs.400 crore to Rajasthan during the next five years for implementation of NIPI in Bharatpur, Dausa and Alwar districts.

The State has set the target to reduce the infant mortality ratio (IMR) by 47.76 per cent, from 67 to 32 per 1,000, and the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by 33.26 per cent, from 445 to 148 per 1 lakh by 2012.

With the State Government partnering with Norway, some of the existing initiatives in these sectors are likely to be strengthened.

Mr. Stoltenberg said the joint programme would help save about 5 lakh children by 2009. “If the children in a family are healthy, it will not think in terms of producing more offspring,” he added.

State Industries Minister Digambar Singh said NIPI would help in effective implementation of the existing programmes such as Janani Suraksha Yojana, institutional deliveries and immunisation.

Mr. Stoltenberg, accompanied by his team, later visited Takha village in the district and interacted with the women with newborn babies.

He said the women health assistants would be called “Yashoda” and would be expected to maintain complete records of child births and provide counselling to mothers.

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