On April 18^th, the American India Foundation (AIF) held The Maternal and Neonatal Survival Initiative (MANSI) Summit at the Merck Research Laboratories. More than 100 people particpants and top thought-leaders from around the world attended and shared their insights and best practices:

  â€œThis is just the beginning,” said Sunita Pereira, an AIF Trustee and Chair of the MANSI Advisory Council. “Moving forward, AIF and its partners plan to keep the discussion going in order to address India’s maternal and neonatal health challenges.”

“It was inspiring to see individuals and organizations from all sectors come together to engage in this very important discussion,” said Ravi Kumar, the CEO of the American India Foundation. “AIF strongly believes collaboration is imperative in solving critical issues such as maternal and neonatal health.”

In the panel discussion, The case for partnerships , Natalie Africa – Director of Private Sector Engagement - Every Women Every Child, United Nations Foundation, SunilBhaskaran– VP of Corporate Service, Tata Steel and Dr. Lily Kak - Senior Advisor for Global Partnerships and Newborn Health, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) shared their insights.

 Gary Darmstadt - Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University and   Dr. Lily Kak - Senior Advisor for Global Partnerships and Newborn Health, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spoke on Priorities for advancing global newborn health and survival

 K. Srinath Reddy - President, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) in his address spoke on  Barriers to achieving the United Nations Millennium Goals on maternal/child health.

According to UNICEF, nearly a quarter of all maternal deaths worldwide occur in India and India leads in the number of newborn deaths and still births globally.This inaugural event brought together over100 leaders from academic institutions, foundations, pharmaceutical companies, and non-profit organizations to promote awareness and best practices of maternal and neonatal health challenges in India.

About MANSI

Maternal and Newborn Survival Initiative (MANSI), a program of AIF, utilizes a public-private partnership model to provide the resources and support required to empower local communities to care for their mothers and children while improving the local health system. To know more go to www.aif.org

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