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RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHNE #2178/01 3000811
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R 270811Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8377
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8023
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 3716
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RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 8591
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 8604
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 002178 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SOCI EAID OVIP PHUM PREL TBIO TSPL KHIV IN
SUBJECT: Indian Health Minister Favors Strengthening U.S-India 
Health Cooperation 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Under Secretary Burns met with Minister of Health 
and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad on October 15.  Minister Azad 
thanked the United States for its assistance in the health field in 
India, citing collaboration in cancer, TB, maternal and child 
health, influenza, and HIV/AIDS as success stories.  He expressed 
interest in collaborating on Global Disease Detection with the U.S. 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Azad stressed the 
importance of polio eradication and appreciated the support India 
receives from international partners.  He also mentioned 
strengthening health and medical infrastructure and underscored the 
importance of transferring technology.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Participants 
 
U.S. 
 
Under Secretary William Burns 
Assistant Secretary Robert Blake 
Ambassador Timothy Roemer 
USAID India Mission Erin Soto 
NSC Acting Director Anish Goel 
Senior CDC Medical Officer Altaf Lal 
 
India 
 
Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad 
Secretary Department of Health and Family Welfare Sujatha Rao 
Secretary Department of Health Research Vishwa Mohan 
Director General Health Services Rakesh Srivastava 
Special Director General Public Health and Director National Center 
for Disease Control Shiv Lal 
Joint Secretary Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Vineet 
Chawdhry 
Joint Secretary Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Rajinder 
Shukla 
Director Americas Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal 
 
Health Dialogue and PM Singh's visit 
--------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Burns was joined by Assistant Secretary Blake, Ambassador 
Roemer, and NSC Acting Senior Director for South Asia Anish Goel. 
Azad expressed interest in establishing collaboration on Global 
Disease Detection (GDD) with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC) in the areas of disease surveillance and 
detection of infectious agents.  He also stated that the GDD Center 
at the Indian National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) would be 
useful for India in responding to international health regulations 
and for developing its global capacity for disease detection. 
(Note:  A few days later, two GOI health officials told Emboff that 
"they are doing everything to clear the draft GDD agreement through 
the Health Ministry," and have an October 30 internal deadline.  GOI 
health officials know a USG cleared version of the GDD agreement 
will be shared with them as soon as possible.  Thus, there is a 
strong possibility that the agreement may be cleared by the GOI 
before PM Singh's upcoming visit to Washington.  End Note.)  Azad 
shared his views on the utility of establishing a bilateral dialogue 
on health between the two countries, stating, "the dialogue will 
provide a forum for reviewing progress of current programs and set 
[the] agenda for new initiatives".  He also stressed the importance 
transferring health sciences technology to his ministry and 
institutions. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Burns stated that the Health Dialogue will widen the 
foundation of collaboration opportunities and expand our cooperation 
by including relevant agencies of the U.S. government as well as 
private sector and non-governmental organizations.  He also informed 
Azad of the U.S. interest in having Prime Minister Singh visit the 
National Institutes of Health (NIH), where several hundred Indian 
specialists are working on biomedical research and health sciences. 
 
 
Continuing Collaborations 
-------- 
 
NEW DELHI 00002178  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) Azad expressed appreciation for the collaborative support 
his ministry receives from the CDC. Citing the example of novel H1N1 
influenza, he thanked CDC for providing real-time support.  He 
stated that during the onset of the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 
India, he closely monitored CDC and WHO websites for information. 
Azad expressed a desire to have his ministry work closely with the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  He also told Burns that 
funding for his ministry has expanded in the 11th five-year plan to 
USD 32 billion from a former figure of USD 7.42 billion. 
 
Polio Eradication and Other Diseases 
-------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Azad stressed that polio eradication will remain a high 
priority for the ministry, stating that the GOI has committed USD 
998 million in the 11th five-year plan for this program.  Azad 
expressed thanks for U.S. assistance in the development of vaccines 
against malaria and rotavirus, which are critical for India. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Health and Family Welfare Secretary Rao expressed interest 
in strengthening collaboration in infectious diseases, such as drug 
resistant TB, establishing quality assurance and quality control 
programs for laboratories, and strengthening protocols for use of 
bio-safety level 3 and 4 laboratories in India.  She also 
underscored the need for training in epidemiology in U.S. 
institutions and technology transfer of low-cost diagnostics 
products.  Senior CDC Medical Officer Lal proposed a training 
program like CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), which can 
train a large number of epidemiologists.  Although Azad supported 
such an in-country training proposal, Rao later told Lal of her 
request for training 10-15 Indian individuals per year in the United 
States. (Note:  The CDC can discuss this potential area of 
collaboration through the establishment of a GDD center in India. 
End Note.) 
 
Next Steps 
-------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Ambassador Roemer proposed frequent meetings between 
Embassy staff and Ministry staff to follow-up on implementing 
bilateral programs and ensuring their success.  The Ambassador also 
shared information on the Cookstove project, a clean energy device, 
which will improve respiratory health by cutting exposure to smoke. 
Burns emphasized the need for "cross fertilization with different 
dialogues," such as the CEO Forum and the Education Dialogue.  A/S 
Blake added that the Health Dialogue will benefit by engaging with 
health components in the Education and Science and Technology 
Dialogues.  Ambassador Roemer mentioned that the Nehru-Fulbright 
fellowships have a component on public health. 
 
ROEMER