Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development Hosts Second Meeting of the Health Working Group Under the Auspices of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission

April 27, 2011

Health Working Group Under the Auspices of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission.

The second meeting of the Health Working Group under auspices of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission was held at the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation on April 27, 2011. The co-chairs of the Health Working Group are Minister of Health and Social Development Tatyana Golikova for the Russian Federation and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius for the United States; the meeting was led by Secretary Sebelius and Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development Veronika Skvortsova.

Sectary Sebelius and Deputy Minister Skvortsova emphasized the commitment that the United States and Russia have shown toward addressing global health issues together, focusing on how their collaborative approach has produced some notable successes since the first meeting of the Health Working Group in September 2010. These include the signing of a Protocol of Intent on Global Polio Eradication among the Ministry of Health and Social Development, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Agency for International Development in January 2011; a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Russian Academy of Science on April 26, 2011; and the launch of Text4Baby Russia, a public-private partnership involving U.S. and Russian public health officials, civil society and industry. Sectary Sebelius and Deputy Minister Skvortsova highlighted the importance of further U.S.-Russia collaboration in the main priority areas for the Health Working Group: maternal and child health, healthy lifestyles, scientific collaboration and global health.

Secretary Sebelius was in Moscow to take part in the First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Noncommunicable Diseases on April 28-29, conducted under the auspices of the World Health Organization and the Government of the Russian Federation. During their bilateral meeting, Secretary Sebelius and Minister Golikova committed to bilateral consultations on important international health issues, including the High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases at the United Nations in September 2011 and co-sponsorship of a resolution on retention of smallpox virus stocks at the World Health Assembly in May 2011.