Bihar govt signs fresh five-year pact with Gates Foundation

Patna: Bihar govt on Friday renewed its memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with the Gates Foundation. The MoC secures five more years of technical support by the Gates Foundation to strengthen state systems and sustain recent gains in health and development outcomes, while accelerating progress towards the sustainable development goals (SDG) by 2030.The new term will be effective from April this year.The MoC was signed in the presence of deputy CM Samrat Choudhary and health minister Mangal Pandey.Chief secretary Pratyaya Amrit signed the MoC representing the Bihar govt, while Archana Vyas, India director of the Gates Foundation, signed on behalf of the foundation. Bihar and the Gates Foundation have been working together since 2010, and the partnership has been renewed multiple times over the past 15 years.The deputy CM, while welcoming the continuation of technical support and expertise from the Gates Foundation, said the state is focused on continuously improving living standards of the people. He said the renewed cooperation would further speed up Bihar’s journey towards achieving SDG goals by 2030.The health minister said Bihar has made notable gains in health and development indicators in recent years, citing reductions in maternal and infant mortality since 2011.

He said the renewed MoC is aimed at institutionalising the progress achieved so far and ensuring that improvements continue consistently over the coming years.Pandey said the partnership will help strengthen technical capacity, improve the quality and reach of health services, and support effective implementation in remote areas. He reiterated the govt’s aim of making quality health services accessible to every family and further strengthening Bihar’s standing among leading states on health performance.Highlighting recent indicators, Pandey said Bihar’s maternal mortality ratio has declined to 104, with a phased target of bringing it down to 70 in line with SDG 2030. He also pointed to improvements in institutional deliveries, which have reached 76.2% as per NFHS-5, and immunisation coverage of 93%, describing these as signs of a more robust health system. He also said that the govt Bihar ranks number one nationally on several health parameters.The chief secretary said the cooperation is focused not only on programme implementation but also on institutional capacity building and strengthening of the system. India director of the Gates Foundation said the foundation will work with the state to improve health and nutrition outcomes, reduce disease burden and poverty, and strengthen access to quality services and livelihood opportunities, including technical support to health, agriculture and rural departments through partner collaboration.Senior officials from the state govt, including Pankaj Kumar, principal secretary, rural development department; Lokesh Kumar Singh, secretary health department; Narmadeshwar Lal, principal secretary, agriculture department; Bandana Preyashi, secretary, social welfare department; Himanshu Sharma, CEO, Jeevika; Tshering Y Bhutia, special secretary, health department; Amit Pandey, executive director, State Health Society; along with other senior officials from the state govt and representatives of the Gates Foundation were present on the occasion.