With an objective to improve urban Health in the state the Uttarakhand government entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Population Services International (PSI) on Friday. The MoU was signed between, Chief Advisor, Population Services International (PSI) Dr Rakesh Kumar and Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM) Uttarakhand, Sonika in the presence of Health Minister, Dhan Singh Rawat and Health Secretary, Amit Singh Negi.
Through this PARTNERSHIP, PSI will provide technical assistance on the urban health component under the NHM in the state. Its responsibility will primarily include the support to the in health systems strengthening such as developing health systems strengthening strategy and implementation plan, strengthening quality of data, HMIS and monitoring, identifying gaps in implementation of national programs, piloting innovations, support incapacity building and development of behaviour change communications strategy, documentation of best practices and research and Learning. It will also include public-private participation to develop health financing, service delivery models and support in Logistics and Supply Chain Management in primary healthcare. Another key focus area will be to identify state and city-level convergence issues to address social determinants of health, such as water, sanitation, gender and Nutrition. Talking about the initiative, health minister Rawat said, The urban population of Uttarakhand stands at 37 per cent and with addition of four municipalities, the population will increase to 41 per cent. With the growing population, there needs to be an increased focus on improving healthcare services in the public as well as private sector. This initiative should increase public awareness and aid in enhancing the demand for quality health services in the state.