Lucknow: Cynthia McCaffrey, India's representative to UNICEF, met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday and discussed the updated status of the ongoing programs in the field of health, education and nutrition in collaboration with UNICEF, in addition to future programs.
Cynthia said, "Uttar Pradesh work experience is good and in future will work together with the government. UNICEF India is taking forward many programs in the field of social health, education, and women and child nutrition in Uttar Pradesh with the support of the state government. UNICEF is also supporting the local administration in aspirational districts." She said that UNICEF is ready to provide technical and academic support to the Uttar Pradesh government for new programs in the near future. Appreciating the ongoing efforts under the guidance of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the field of social health, Cynthia said, "In the last six years, there has been a significant decline in the maternal, infant and neonatal mortality rates in the state."
She added that due to planned efforts, the availability of health services has increased even in remote villages, while awareness programs that have been organized are yielding good results. This success of Uttar Pradesh is inspiring.
Cynthia termed the strategy adopted by the Chief Minister as a wonderful model for the eradication of Japanese Encephalitis.
She said, "In 38 districts of the state, the Uttar Pradesh government has succeeded in preventing this disease, which has been the cause of untimely, premature deaths of innocent children. This is a great achievement."
Meanwhile, Cynthia called the strategy adopted for Covid control in a densely populated, vast state like Uttar Pradesh exemplary.
Referring to the Covid management of different countries, she said that the way the leadership of UP faced the high population density and various social challenges here is highly commendable.
"UP has presented the best model of Covid management," she said.
She further praised the efforts being made under the leadership of the Chief Minister in the direction of women's safety, respect and self-reliance in Uttar Pradesh, especially the 'Mission Shakti', and also praised the policies for the promotion of women entrepreneurship in the state.
While congratulating the UNICEF representative on her arrival in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath praised the cooperation being received from UNICEF in the field of public health including encephalitis, various water-borne diseases, Covid management and proposed to cooperate even further with the organization on such programs.
"Uttar Pradesh has achieved remarkable success in the field of health and nutrition in recent years. For 40 years, the death of innocent children due to diseases like encephalitis has been controlled by up to 95 per cent," he remarked. The Chief Minister said that a lot remains to be done in the field of health security in Uttar Pradesh. "We are setting up one district-one medical college on the lines of one district-one product scheme," he informed further.
—ANI