Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 25 (IANS) While reiterating that basic health services remain a huge challenge in India, Microsoft founder Bill Gates Saturday said the country’s dramatic progress in health schemes and initiatives makes him optimistic.
“More than 10 years into our work, we’re more optimistic than ever. The phenomenal progress we’ve seen in India is one of the main reasons for our optimism,” Gates said after receiving the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development from President Pratibha Patil here.

Gates received the prize on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which launched Avahan in India in 2003 to fight the spread of AIDS in six high risk states.

Gates, however, said that India faces some of the “toughest health problems in the world”.

“It bears a massive burden of diseases. But in the next five years, India can make more progress on health than it has made in any other five year period in its history,” he said.

“You have the ability to save millions of lives and set a great example for the rest of the world. And the Gates Foundation will do what we can to help you take advantage of this historic opportunity. India has two advantages that together can trigger major breakthroughs in health: First, you have the proven ability to innovate, second, you have a keen appreciation for the urgency of the situation,” Gates, one of world’s richest man, said.

Praising India’s polio immunization drive, Gates, said: “Your polio campaign is exceptional. Vaccinators visit more than 200 million homes, one by one. 200 million!! To make sure they don’t miss anybody, they also go to train stations, bus stations, and ferry terminals to immunize children who are on the move. You should be very proud of that level of commitment.”

India is one of the few countries that still reports polio cases.

“If you keep up the commitment you have shown for the last five years, the list of things you can accomplish by 2015 is simply astounding,” he added.

“The National Rural Health Mission is already spurring innovation at the local level and generating impressive results. The proposed National Urban Health Mission could do the same. So the best way Melinda (wife) and I can thank you for the honour of this prize is to promise to be the best partners we can be as India continues in this critical endeavour.”