G-8 HEALTH INITIATIVES DEMARCHE DELIVERED

UNCLAS MOSCOW 001793 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR OES/TIERRA COPELAND E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO SENV PREL WHO RS SUBJECT: G-8 HEALTH INITIATIVES DEMARCHE DELIVERED REF: STATE 66363 ¶1. (SBU) On June 23, Acting DCM shared the USG's health-related priorities for the 2008 G-8 Summit with MFA North America Department Director Igor Neverov. Post also shared the USG health priorities with Deputy Minister of Finance Dmitriy Pankin (Russia's G-8 Sous-Sherpa),and with GOR officials at the International Departments of the Ministry of Health and Social Development (MOHSD) and the Federal Surveillance Service for Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being (Rospotrebnadzor). ¶2. (SBU) Yevgeniy Slastnykh, Head of the Office of Bilateral Cooperation in the MOHSD International Department, expressed interest in the USG initiative to train health care workers. He noted that Russia currently hosted about 6,000 foreign medical students, many of whom were studying on GOR-funded stipends and fellowships under bilateral agreements with various countries administered by the Ministry of Education and Science. He believed Russia could consider hosting more medical students and increasing the number of GOR-funded stipends and fellowships. Alexander Kucherenko, head of the Rostpotrebnadzor International Department, noted that his agency would likely be interested in supporting the USG initiative on neglected tropical diseases. We will continue to follow up with GOR officials regarding their reaction to the USG's G-8 health priorities. RUSSELL