The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) on Wednesday invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the upcoming 2018 Partners' Forum, to be held in New Delhi on December 12-13.
PMNCH is an alliance of more than 1,000 organisations in 92 countries of the sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health communities, as well as health influencing sectors.
On the occasion, the Prime Minister shared with the delegation his personal experiences on the initiatives taken in Gujarat for increasing institutional deliveries, according to an official statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
Modi told the visiting delegates that the increase in institutional deliveries happened through partnership with the private sector and organising community feeding for the poor and pregnant women in villages, so that their nutrition needs could be met.
The PM stressed on effective communication strategy and emphasised that "participation is partnership", the statement said.
He also suggested to involve people from across the globe, specially young people in areas like nutrition, age of marriage, pre-natal and post-natal care, and seek ideas for effective implementation and communication for programmes for women, children and adolescents.
Modi suggested an online quiz competition on these themes and provide awards to prize winners in the upcoming Partners' Forum meet.
The delegation included Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, former President of Chile and incoming chair of PMNCH Board Michelle Bachelet, actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka Chopra, Minister of State A.K. Choubey and Health Secretary Preeti Sudan.
The Prime Minister agreed to be patron of the PMNCH Forum and accepted the Logo of the forum.
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