New Delhi: Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi
Azad on Saturday asked Asian countries to work towards
institutionalisation of South-South mechanism in various areas
in the health sector.
Azad said India is commitment to the promotion of
South-South Cooperation and strengthening of Partners in
Population and Development (PPD).
He was presiding over the meeting of the 17th Executive
Committee of PPD here today.
He called upon the member countries to increase their
annual contribution and provide long-term fellowships and work
towards institutionalisation of South-South mechanism in
various areas.
The Vice Chair of PPD and Health Minister of China, Dr
Li Bin and Dr Ruhal Haque, Health Minister of Bangladesh, also
participated in the meeting.
PPD is an inter-governmental initiative created
specifically for the purpose of expanding and improving
South-to-South collaboration in the fields of reproductive
health, population and development.
The initiative was launched at the 1994 International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), when 10
developing nations from Asia, Africa and Latin America formed
an inter-governmental alliance to help implement the Cairo
Programme of Action (POA).
The POA, endorsed by 179 nations, stresses the need to
establish mechanisms to promote development through sharing of
experiences in Reproductive Health (RH) and Family Planning
(FP) within and among countries and to promote effective
partnerships among the governments, Non-Governmental
Organisations, research institutions and the private sector.
India is currently the Chairman of PPD and China is the
Vice-Chair. The Secretariat of PPD is situated in Dhaka,
Bangladesh. The Annual Meeting of PPD in 2010 was held at
Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The 2011 Annual Meeting of PPD is being held in South
Africa in November, 2011.
PTI
