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Berhampur : Continuing its support to Odisha in the health Sector, Norway today said nurses and families can play a key role in reducing Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR).
"The role of the family and nurses is very important to reduce IMR and MMR," Norway's Ambassador to India, Nils Ragnar Kamsvag said while launching a pre-service education and training programme for nursing students at a college here.
The envoy said Norway would continue to support Odisha in the health sector, particularly in training the nurses and midwives and to reduce IMR.
He asked the students to undertake more and more research on how to reduce IMR and MMR in the state.
Kamsvag also interacted with the faculty and nursing students besides visiting the general nursing and midwives training center in the college and comprehensive skill lab.
Training to nurses is undertaken through the National Health Mission (NHM) with technical assistance of Norway through Norway-India Partnership Initiatives (NIPI) and Johns Hopkins University.
Odisha's IMR has reduced from 96 deaths per 1000 live births in 2000 to 40 deaths per 1000 live births in 2016 against the national average of 41 as per the National Family Health Survey-IV, officials said.
Shalini Pandit, Mission Director, NHM state government, outlined the achievement of the state nodal center. The College of Nursing was declared as State Nodal Center (SNC).
Ganjam District Collector, Prem Chandra Chaudhary expressed hope that Norway would extend the support in health sector in future too. "We are happy as Norway has extended support in health sector to Ganjam, in general and Odisha. We hope similar support will continue in future," he said.
Earlier, the students and faculties of the College of Nursing accorded warm reception to the Ambassador of Norway.
NIPI was started in 2007, with Sambalpur, Angul and Jharsuguda as pilot districts for innovation. Under this programme the Norway government has supported Odisha for special Newborn Care Unit (NBCU) Home based newborn care, family centered care for the newborn, pre-service nursing education.
