Underlining focus on HIV/AIDS, polio and affordable and safe medicines, the Indian government said with National Rural Health Mission it has set in motion an improved access to quality healthcare for people, especially those living in rural areas, poor, women and children.
With Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh providing leadership in the control of HIV/AIDS, the emphasis is to make the dreaded disease everyone’s concern.
The government said their aim is to mainstream HIV/AIDS concerns in programme and schemes across relevant ministries to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halting and reserving the AIDS epidemic by 2011, ahead of the global target of 2015.
“…Government has approved accessing financial grant of over Rs 300 crore from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria…,” the UPA government said in its report card on completion of three years in power.
Taking credit for ‘eliminating’ leprosy in some states, as per WHO standards, the government said they are now targeting the remaining few states and added that they are committed to wipe out polio virus through focused strategy and design in 2007.
Highlighting NRHM that set in motion a series of initiatives in providing quality healthcare for people, especially those living in rural areas, the poor, women and children, the government said the mission seeks to halve infant mortality from 60 to 30 per thousand live births and bring down maternal mortality rate to 100 per lakh from over 300 per lakh at present.
A Group of Ministers are also considering a draft of a National Pharmaceuticals Policy that seeks to harmonise price control issue with growth requirements of pharma industry.