Lucknow, June 9: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BLGF) has made commendable contributions in the field of health and nutrition in the state.
” BLGF always gets cooperation in making various schemes of Uttar Pradesh government reach the public and make them effective. In recent years, technical support is also being received from BLGF in the agriculture sector too,” he said.
CM was reacting after meeting a delegation of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BLGF) here on Thursday morning.
Yogi Adityanath and BLGF delegation also discussed to further enhance technical cooperation in the field of health, nutrition and agriculture in UP.
Marks Suzmann, CEO of BLGF, said that they have seen the covid management of all the countries and it would be fair to say that the covid management of India especially Uttar Pradesh was far better than the covid management of America. “The way in which the leadership of UP faced the dense population density and various social challenges is commendable,” he said.
CM said the results of NFHS-5 shows that UP has shown phenomenal improvement in the field of health and nutrition. On many parameters, our performance is better than the national average. In this work also we have got the cooperation of BLGF, he added.
He said the foundation gave support to Uttar Pradesh during Covid. Be it providing testing kits, or setting up dedicated COVID hospitals in Noida, Gonda and Prayagraj, there is constructive support from BLGF all the time. We are grateful to the Foundation for this, CM said.
He said UP has achieved remarkable success in the field of health and nutrition in recent years. Deaths from diseases like encephalitis, which have been caused by immaturity in children since 40 years, have been controlled by 95%.
He said in the field of health security, UP government was setting up One District One Medical College on the lines of One District One Product Scheme. This will make the availability of doctors sufficient, but availability of skilled nursing/ paramedics is a big challenge for us. The Foundation can support us in creating qualified, and skilled, professional nursing staff, paramedics. It should be extended to the digital platform.
” We have received good support from global organizations like UNICEF, WHO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and PATH in the field of public health including various water borne diseases including encephalitis, COVID management. Such efforts will be continued in future also with mutual cooperation.
He also called upon BLGF to cooperate with the State Government in further strengthening the Self Help Groups. BLGF’s global hands-on experience and technical know-how will help us in making SHGs more effective.
The delegates included BLGF CEO Mark Suzman and Country Director among other dignitaries.
