Gates to help UP fight infant diseases, improve hygiene

LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government would soon sign an MoU with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to step up its campaign for vaccination of infants against the dreaded Japanese encephalitis that has been claiming lives on a regular basis in Gorakhpur.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Friday. PTI

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, November 17

The Yogi Adityanath government would soon sign an MoU with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to step up its campaign for vaccination of infants against the dreaded Japanese encephalitis that has been claiming lives on a regular basis in Gorakhpur.

At a meeting between the Microsoft founder-philanthropist Bill Gates, his wife Melinda and UP CM Yogi and their officials here today, it was decided that the MoU for a five-year contract would take up general health issues of young mothers and their newborns along with allied issues.

CM Yogi admitted that vaccination against Japanese encephalitis and acute encephalitis syndrome could not be effective without a special sanitation drive and safe drinking water and sewage in the villages in the catchment area of 38 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

The CM said improving the quality of care at Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das Medical College where 70 infants had died within the first five days of November was the government’s priority. This included further training of the doctors at the hospital, which catered not only to eastern UP but Bihar as well as Nepal, he said.

Gates said his foundation was committed to providing technical assistance to the government to effectively combat vector and water-borne diseases, improving availability of potable drinking water, sanitation and malnutrition among mothers and infants.

The Microsoft founder offered to provide the latest technology to improve sanitation and drainage in the catchment districts. His foundation is already in talks with the Indian Medical Research Centre for the establishment of a monitoring centre at the BRD Medical College Hospital in Gorakhpur, said Gates.

Focus on Gorakhpur

70 infants died within first five days of November at BRD Medical College and Hospital in Gorakhpur
The deaths have been blamed on Japanese encephalitis and acute encephalitis syndrome
Gates foundation will work on eradicating the root cause of these diseases