Innovation, Partnership, and Self-Reliance: Health Policy Lessons from India’s Bihar State
Bihar State is the third largest in India with a population of 110 million, which would make it the 12th largest in the world if it was its own country. Bihar has some of the highest rates of maternal, neonatal, and infant mortality in India, as well as malnutrition, stunting, and high fertility. These issues are exacerbated by extreme poverty, early marriage, gender and social inequality, and low literacy rates. The Bihar Technical Support Program, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and implemented by CARE, was founded to address these challenges with the goal of boosting capacity and self-reliance. The program covers all 534 blocks in 38 districts of Bihar and involves at least 400 public sector hospitals and 200,000 frontline workers.
The Bihar Technical Support Program offers many lessons learned about innovative program design to meet a variety of critical health challenges in a large population, as well as for purposefully building capacity with the intent to transition support at a designated end date. With self-reliance and country ownership on the Washington foreign policy community’s minds with USAID Administrator Mark Green’s strategic transitions agenda and proposals for significant reductions in U.S. foreign assistance spending, the Bihar program offers important lessons for broader health and development programs.
The conference runs from 9am – 1:30pm. Breakfast will be served starting at 8:00am with lunch served before the third panel.
Conference Agenda:
Welcome Remarks
Sara M. Allinder
Executive Director and Senior Fellow
CSIS Global Health Policy Center
Introductory Remarks
Sushil Kumar Modi
Deputy Chief Minister, Government of Bihar
Panel I: Overview of the Bihar Technical Support Program and Achievements from the Partnership
Panelists:
Mangal Pandey
Health Minister, Government of Bihar
Usha Kiran Tarigopula
India Country Lead, State Health and Community Systems
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Hemant Shah
Chief of Party
Bihar Technical Support Program
Moderator:
Heather Higginbottom
Chief Operating Officer
CARE
Panel II: The Role of Data and Innovation
Panelists:
Sanjay Kumar
Principal Health Secretary, Government of Bihar
Angshuman Deb
Executive Architect
IBM Watson Health
Macon Phillips
Chief Digital Officer
CARE
Moderator:
Sara M. Allinder
Executive Director and Senior Fellow
CSIS Global Health Policy Center
Panel III: Policy Implications of BTSP
Panelists:
Gary Darmstadt
Associate Dean for Maternal and Child Health
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stuti Khemani
Senior Economist, Development Research Group
World Bank
Madhu Deshmukh
Chief Executive Officer
CARE India
Kerry Pelzman
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Global Health
USAID
Moderator:
J. Stephen Morrison
Senior Vice President and Director
CSIS Global Health Policy Center
This event is made possible through generous support from CARE.
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