This story originally appeared in Samachar Today, a news portal about India.
The country’s first model district health project has been launched in the Morigaon district of Assam. The project was launched in collaboration with the Earth Institute, Columbia University and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Launching the ambitious project at a function in Dispur yesterday, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the model district health project would aim at reducing infant and maternal mortality rates by 2015. Speaking on the occasion, senior adviser of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, Dr. Nirupam Bajpai said Morigaon in Assam is among the five districts in the country to have been selected under the model district health project.
Dr. Bajpai, who has been honored with the Padmashree Award, said the mission aims at reaching out to 600 million people in the country through interventions in a better and effective way. Terming the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) as the biggest public health program in the world, Dr. Bajpai said the project would address other key health issues.
Editor’s note: This critical work will be housed in the Columbia Global Center/South Asia, which is supported with generous funding from Rubal Jain and the Aditya Birla Group. The center recently opened in Mumbai.
[…] and hundreds of villages each, but more viable models than, say, a state. In late September, we launched our first Model District in Morigaon, Assam. Assam is one of India’s Northeast states — a fascinating, […]