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PRESS RELEASE - Ambassador Nirupama Rao meets US Secretary for Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius

Washington, DC

Ambassador Nirupama Rao met Ms. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the US Health and Human Services (US HHS) on April 09, 2012, at the HHS office. Extending a warm welcome to Ambassador Rao, Secretary Sebelius  recalled her visit to India in January, 2012, which she mentioned had helped her to understand the complexities of Indian health system and it's  challenges. She lauded the Indian effort for eradication of Polio over the last one year, which resulted in removal of India from the polio affected nations by WHO. She also expressed her satisfaction in progress of the Global Disease Detection (GDD) - India Center,  which has been established in collaboration with the US Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).

Ambassador Rao highlighted the importance of vibrant India-US health cooperation in strengthening the  strategic dialogue and addressing the challenges of global health such as Rotavirus vaccine development, solution for HIV/AIDS, non-communicable diseases containment. In order to further broaden and deepen the bilateral health cooperation and to ensure better health at affordable costs for the people, she mentioned about emerging collaboration opportunities in areas of Cancer research, specifically cooperation in development of the Indian National Cancer Institute; Low Cost Biomedical Technologies and Health Informatics. Ambassador underscored the opportunity for development of cooperation in the field of traditional medicine, which has immense market potential in the USA. 

Secretary Sebelius and Ambassador Rao agreed to strengthen the India-US Health Initiative mechanism to share information, identify and address policy concerns, establish  new technologies, share international best practices and ensure smooth implementation issues for bilateral cooperation.