KATHMANDU: The Ministerial Leadership Initiative (MLI) for Global Health is all set to support the Ministry of Health and Population in achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

According to a statement issued by the MSIGH on Monday, MLI, a programme funded by the Mill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, seeks to strengthen the capacity of ministries of health in five countries -- Nepal, Ethiopia, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

In May 2008, Nepal was selected as one of the five countries to participate in the MLI, and by September 2008 the MoPH and the MLI had collaboratively devised a technical assistance plan to be implemented during the first year of the three-year initiative, says the statement.

"Nepal is the only country in South Asia to receive MLI support and as MLI is a long-term commitment, I am confident that it will benefit greatly from it," says Gabriele Mallapaty, the country lead of MLI Nepal.

She further says that Nepal has enshrined health as a fundamental human right in its interim constitution, with basic free care as a right of all Nepali citizens, and reproductive rights for all Nepali women.

On May 20, a delegation from Nepal will attend the 62nd World Health Assembly in Geneva where all five MLI countries will get opportunity to exchange their views and experiences.