UN secretary general reviews Maharashtra's public health system

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon who is on a four-day tour to India met Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan at Sahyadri and reviewed the state public health system.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon who is on a four-day tour to India met chief minister Prithviraj Chavan at Sahyadri and reviewed the state public health system.

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The secretary general, who headed a delegation of officials of World Health Organisation, UNICEF and United Nations Population Development Fund, had a detailed 45-minute meeting with the chief minister and all the top officials and ministers of the state health ministry.

"The UN secretary general has lauded the work being done by the public health machinery in the state," CM Prithviraj Chavan said.

Under the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the agency has set some goals for reduction of child mortality and malnutrition by 2015. It also includes reducing pregnancy mortality by nearly a third.

Chavan claimed the state had managed to meet most of these targets for which it was lauded by the UN mission. "We will be working to ensure that we address the skewed sex ratio in the state," the CM said.

Chavan also made a request to the secretary general to help pass a resolution on the International Convention on Counter Terrorism which the country had submitted in 1996.

He requested the UN for greater global cooperation toward the fight against terrorism. State health minister Suresh Shetty and minister of state Fauziya Khan were also present during the interaction.