The India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) was launched in New Delhi today by Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare. Mr Bill Gates, Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was the guest of honour.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Nata Menabde, WHO Representative to India said, “The WHO through its Country Cooperation Strategy is committed to help India reduce neonatal mortality.”
“While we can admire this plan’s comprehensiveness, we also must realize that a strategic plan is just the beginning. Our real success will be to effectively implement this plan effectively at the state and district level. There is also an urgent need to review, revise and strengthen decentralized health plans in line with the goals and indicators defined in this plan. The state and districts should strongly commit to their implementation with particular focus to vulnerable, hard to reach and high-risk groups,” she added.
Dr Menabde also highlighted the need to prioritize a detailed monitoring plan with coverage and outcomes metrics to track progress as also to continuously report data, and share the lessons to help refine strategies to achieve targets.
INAP has been prepared with the help of expertise drawn from distinguished members of a Technical Resource Group. They have set out a vision of a world in which there are no preventable deaths of new-borns or still births, where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is celebrated and every woman, baby and child thrive to reach their full potential.