NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

India’s ban on foreign funding for the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), a non-profit group backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, may damage some government health programs, according to the group and a health ministry official.

In a letter to the health ministry dated May 3, the non-profit said many of its programs linked to the ministry were in “suspended animation” and that its domestic funds would only help it run operations until June.

Affected programs included those on eliminating black fever, HIV prevention, tobacco control and universal health coverage, PHFI wrote in the letter, which was reviewed by Reuters.

PHFI activities such as training health workers for government programs and research into non-communicable diseases could be hurt by the funding ban, said Soumya Swaminathan, secretary of the department of health research in the federal health ministry.