New Interagency Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Public Health and Medical Sciences

July 6, 2009 - Ambassador John Beyrle, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development Veronika Skvortsova of the Russian Federation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation in the Field of Public Health and Medical Sciences.  This MOU strengthens the bilateral framework for deeper cooperation between health authorities, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, scientific institutions, and other organizations.

The MOU specifically outlines expanded bilateral cooperation in the areas of:

• infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and measures of pandemic preparedness and response;
• chronic and non-communicable diseases, including diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer;
• promoting healthy lifestyles, including reducing tobacco and alcohol consumption, reducing deaths resulting from road accidents and other trauma;
• maternal and child health protection;
• improving global health, including facilitating international cooperation on the surveillance and monitoring of infectious diseases, promoting implementation of the International Health Regulations, supporting the Millennium Development Goals, and strengthening health systems in developing countries, including response to man-made and natural disasters; and
• other avenues of cooperation in public health and medical science, as agreed by the two sides.

This MOU provides a high-level political signal for reinvigorated bilateral health cooperation by a number of government agencies and nongovernment organizations.  For example, under the MOU the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and Federal Services on Surveillance in Healthcare and Social Development of Russian Federation plan to establish a U.S.-Russia Forum in Health Science to support shared strategic priorities in health.  Activities include starting a simulation training facility in Moscow for training in good manufacturing practices and a workshop in 2010 on multidrug resistant tuberculosis.

For more information:

• Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Health and Human Services and the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federsation on the Cooperation in the Field of Public Health and Medical Science

Last revised: July 09, 2009