Harsh Vardhan holds talks with US Health Secretary

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has met his American counterpart Sylvia Mathews Burwell and held discussions over a range of bilateral issues.

Vardhan, the first cabinet minister of Narendra Modi government to visit the US, also met the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator Raj Shah yesterday.

The meeting came on the eve of an important international meet 'Acting on the Call: Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths' being organized by the US in association with India and Ethiopia.

In their meeting, Vardhan and Burwell are understood to have reviewed the India-US Health Initiatives and discussed new areas of collaboration that could be forged between the two countries.

Under the Health Initiative, four working groups have been organised in the areas of non-communicable diseases, infectious diseases, strengthening health systems and services, and maternal and child health.

In June 2012, the United States, India and Ethiopia in collaboration with UNICEF, had hosted the Child Survival Call to Action event in Washington, DC to mobilize the world opinion to achieve the ambitious yet achievable goal of reducing all preventable child deaths by 2035.

Vardhan is scheduled to deliver key note address at the meet being organized in Washington DC today.

The Union Health Minister would also visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. He is likely to attend the annual convention of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) and address the powerful group of Indian American doctors at San Antonio in Texas on June 26.