India has pitched for a greater collaboration among South Asian countries for addressing common health problems towards sustainable solutions. The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said this while inaugurating the 4th Regional Meeting of South Asian Forum of Health Research in New Delhi on Sunday.

The objective of the three day meeting is to focus on sharing and implementation of regional health priorities to achieve better health for the people of South Asian Nations. He said that his ministry will do everything to facilitate regional cooperation among the member countries in this regard. Mr Azad underlined the need to explore ways for strengthening collaboration by sharing innovative methods for tackling the problems whether it is in area of poverty, disease and in natural disaster.

Mr Azad said that vector borne diseases, diarrohoel diseases and other health problems are such areas where collaborative efforts are required to develop common solutions and their cross border implementation.

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

AIR correspondent reports, representatives form medical and health research councils including from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal , Pakistan and Maldives are participating in the meeting to deliberate on various health issues to find out solutions.