India has pitched for greater collaboration among South Asian countries in addressing common health problems. Inaugurating the 4th Regional Meeting of South Asian Forum of Health Research in New Delhi, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad underlined the need to explore ways for strengthening collaboration by sharing innovative methods for tackling the problems. He said vector borne diseases, diarrheal diseases and other health problems are such areas where collaborative efforts are required to develop common solutions and their cross border implementation.

Minister of State for External Affairs Mrs. Preneet Kaur also advocated strengthening the defences against diseases and identifying the extent of the challenges faced by South Asian Countries.

AIR correspondent reports, representatives from medical and health research councils from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal , Pakistan and Maldives are participating in the three-day meeting.