The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today gave its approval by supporting one time contribution of Rs. 65 crore to the initial Rs.200 crore corpus of Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).

The PHFI basically aims to improve the public health human resources capacity and advocacy in India by strengthening education in public health, building new world class institutions of public health in India, strengthening existing such institutions both within the Government and outside, creating a critical mass of high quality faculty in the field of public health etc.

It also aims at setting standards in public health education by improving the quality of Public Health Education by clearly defining academic standards in public health education. To strengthen research and policy in Public Health, the PHFI plans to conduct high impact, India relevant research in Public Health, using the research to empower National programme and enable appropriate policy formulation, working with the government (Central and State), as also the private sector to create meaningful career tracts for public health professionals, said a Government press release.

The rest of the Fund is being generated from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Rs.65 crore) and approx. Rs.80-90 crore is being generated from an assortment of high net worth of Indians from all over the world.