Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) : Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), paid a courtesy call on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at his official residence on Wednesday.
At a special meeting, between Gates and the chief minister, enhancing technical cooperation in the fields of health, nutrition and agriculture were discussed.
Adityanath tweeted: “Had a wonderful meeting with co-chair and trustee of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, at my official residence in Lucknow today. We had a fruitful discussion regarding better technical cooperation in the field of health, nutrition, social security and agriculture in UP”.
During their discussion, Gates lauded the work done by Uttar Pradesh in recent years underlining the Covid management and encephalitis control despite a dense population.
“Amidst the challenges of Covid, the way, the state leadership tackled the issue of dense population and various social challenges is highly commendable,” Gates said.
She also lauded the efforts of the Uttar Pradesh Government in the areas of health security, financial inclusion, nutrition, education, women empowerment and added, “Uttar Pradesh is a model not only for India but for the whole world”.
Melinda’s Foundation has deep ties with Uttar Pradesh. Gates said, “there are immense possibilities for development in Uttar Pradesh.
She especially highlighted work on infrastructure in the past few years. Terming it “unprecedented”, Gates said the direction of development has been right.
Gates also congratulated women’s self-help groups (SHGs) for the success of the nutrition mission and praised the efforts being made to increase the income of farmers by promoting the formation of FPOs in the largest agricultural state of the country.
She lauded the policies for women’s empowerment.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that he has closely seen the works of the BMGF, which has made a commendable contribution to the field of health and nutrition.
UP received logistics and technical support from the Foundation amidst the challenges of Covid. “We are grateful to the Foundation for this gesture”, Yogi said.
He further said, “Uttar Pradesh has achieved satisfactory success in health and nutrition in recent years. About 95% of the deaths of innocent children caused by a disease like encephalitis have been controlled.
“Besides, the Foundation has cooperated with us for effective control of communicable diseases like Chikungunya and Kala-azar. We have received good cooperation from global organizations like UNICEF, WHO, BMGF and PATH in the field of public health including in controlling various waterborne diseases such as encephalitis and Covid management. Such efforts will continue to be made with mutual cooperation”, said CM Yogi further.
He said, “There has been unprecedented improvement in Uttar Pradesh in the field of health and nutrition. On many parameters, our performance is better than the national average.”
He appreciated BMGF’s cooperation in reducing maternal and infant mortality rates. He also spoke about the efforts being made in mission mode for the vaccination of children under PM’s Mission Indradhanush.
The result of these efforts is that the health security of every citizen is being ensured in the state”.
The chief minister spoke about the major challenge in the availability of skilled nursing/paramedics. “In this regard, the software has been developed in the state under Mission Niramaya, which has become a good model for the training and skill development of nursing paramedical staff. The Foundation can cooperate with us to produce qualified, and skilled, Professional Nursing Staff, Paramedics,” he said.
“During the outbreak of Covid 19, there were no ICU and ventilator facilities in 36 districts of the state. However, the Government ensured the availability of ventilators and ICUs by developing dedicated Covid hospitals in all the districts. Virtual ICUs were also at work through master trainers,” he said.
Referring to the efforts and results of Mission Shakti in Uttar Pradesh for women’s empowerment, the CM said that this campaign focuses on three things- women’s safety, honour and self-reliance.
“Twenty per cent of posts in Police recruitment have been reserved for women. Today, women constables have been deployed in every gram panchayat of the state,” he stated.
Schemes like ‘Banking Sakhi’ have not only strengthened financial inclusion in villages but have also been instrumental in women’s empowerment. Women’s voluntary groups are working to solve the problem of malnutrition.
Gates also appreciated the effective implementation of the digital banking system in UP.
CM Yogi invited Melinda Gates and her colleagues to participate in the proposed Global Investors Summit to be held in the state from February 10-12, 2023. (ANI)
