U.S. and India Pledge

(Continued from page 1)

the National Institute on Drug
Abuse; the Fogarty International
Center; and other agencies of the
U.S. Government, including the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the U.S. Agency
for International Development.

Under the agreement, both the
NIH and ICMR are the primary
funders of biomedical research in
their respective countries and
support a wide variety of relevant
researches. The institutions have
agreed to convene on a regular
basis to consider and facilitate
proposals for cooperation. They
will also provide technical advice
to each other's scientists and gov-
ernment officials.

Specific areas to be addressed
within this program include:

e Prevention and treatment of
leading causes of maternal,

neonatal and pediatric mor-
bidity and mortality (including
toxemia, hemorrhage, sepsis,
birth asphyxia and trauma,
accidents, diarrhea and other
infectious diseases, etc.):

Prevention and treatment of
low birth weight and intrau-
terine growth retardation;

Matérnal and child nutrition
and the role of micronutrients
in healthy child bearing and
pediatric and adolescent
health and development;

Birth defects, genetic disorders
and development research;

Improved understanding of
pathophysiology, prevention
and treatment of infectious
diseases in women and
children including childhood
asthma, acute respiratory tract
infections, gastrointestinal in-
fections, reproductive tract in-
fections and malignancies and
HIV/AIDS;

Reproductive health including
socio-behavioral aspects, birth
practices and development and
evaluation of newer contracep-
tives;

Traditional systems of medi-
cine and practices which have
an important impact on the
health and well-being of
women and children adoles-
cents;

Emergency obstetric care for
miscarriages and other prob-
lems of pregnancy, including
severe preeclampsia, hemor-
rhage and embolism;

Relationship between mater-
nal; nutrition, fetal growth/de-
velopment and degenerative
diseases in later life; and

Analysis, consensus building
and policy formulation on
public health benefits and
cost-effectiveness of new
approaches to improve mater-
nal and child health.

National Initiative for Child Protection (NICP)

Mrs. Maneka Gandhi, Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment, launched the National
Initiative for Child Protection (NICP) on June 27, 2000 with an aim to spread better and greater
understanding of the special needs of children and placing child’s rights and protection on the
National Agenda. The broad goal of the NICP is to build partnerships with the allied systems
like the police system, the health care system, the judicial system and the education system etc.

The NICP is a campaign, which seeks to place child’s rights and child protection on the agenda
of all the allied systems such as the police, the health care center, and the transport departments
and labor departments etc. A greater understanding of the special needs of children in need of
care and protection will result in several positive things like greater access to services such as
health care, education, justice, etc. for children, development of specialized services for
children where they are needed, allocation of resources for children including time, attention,
money, infrastructure etc. and an attitudinal change in perceiving the problems of the child and
in dealing with them.

To make the NICP successful a national core group has been formed for wider consultation and
training of trainers is being organized at the regional level. Preparation of source material is on
the way. The States have been asked to lend their support in this gigantic task. Training systems
have been evolved for the allied systems like police etc. and child protection issues are being
integrated into the curriculum of training institutes. In its first phase, the NICP will be implement-
ed in 14 cities across the country through a network of NGOs.

INDIA NEWS « July-August 2000

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