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IMPROVING MOTHER AND CHILD HEALTHCARE IN UZBEKISTAN
Q&A

Saving more children’s and mothers lives Improving the quality of newborn and maternal care Achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5

WHAT IS IT?
A large scale programme of national healthcare reforms - with an emphasis on maternal and child health, running from October 2008 until December 2010.

WHERE IS IT?
Across 8 regions of Uzbekistan: Khashkadyria, Surkhandarya, Samarkand, Jizzak, Sirdarya, Namanagan, Andijon and Navoi.

WHAT ARE THE AIMS?
To Support the implementation of Uzbekistan’s national healthcare reforms in maternal and child health - through;

• capacity building of health workers at maternity hospitals and primary health care facilities
• expanding professional capacity of local health care managers
• establishing regional training centre’s for continuous medical education of maternal and child health service providers
• ensuring professional improvements are reflected in medical academic curricula.
• Raising awareness of families and communities on better care for mothers and children

WHY DO WE NEED THIS?
According to UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2006, infant mortality stands at 48 per 1,000 births in Uzbekistan. It is believed that nearly 50 per cent of these deaths could be easily prevented if the healthcare staff and conditions are better equipped. Improving healthcare standards therefore is key to saving babies’ and mother’s lives.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN ELEMENTS?

• Improving birth registration and the introduction of instruments for analyzing causes of deaths
• The introduction of the WHO Live Birth Definition, better analysis of causes of death and other tools will translate into lives saved – and a better statistical base to accurately address problems in care.
• Preparing for a new updated WHO training on “Effective Perinatal Care”
• Will improve the quality of perinatal services
• Installing improved clinical protocols on newborn and child survival
• Will improve the quality of medical care for newborns and children
• Breastfeeding promotion
• Will improve exclusive breastfeeding in order to decrease child mortality and morbidity
• Integrated management of child illnesses
• Will improve the quality of primary health care services for children

HOW WILL IT BE DONE?
Through a series of training of trainers, who will then spread their knowledge and skills to healthcare providers in the regions. Through awareness raising and communications work.
Specifically:

• 436 National trainers will be trained
• Nearly ten thousand health workers will be trained
• New training centers will be established in 5 regions and some existing centre’s renovated
• The WHO Live Birth definition will be applied
• Newborn & child survival packages will be introduced into the academic curricula of medical institutes

WHO’S DOING IT?
The Ministry of Health of the Government of Uzbekistan is leading programme implementation, with technical support from UNICEF and funding from the European Commission.

HOW IS IT FUNDED?
The project budget amounts to almost 6 million US$, where EC is providing 5.5 million US$ (3.5 million Euros) and UNICEF 450 thousands US$ (300 thousands Euro)

WHAT IMPACT WILL THIS HAVE?

• More mothers and babies lives will be saved.
• Even in remote areas, mothers will be able to receive safe, high quality care for themselves and for their children.

HAVE PROJECTS LIKE THIS BEEN DONE BEFORE?
Yes. With the Ministry of Health UNICEF has been piloting the project in the Ferghana region for some time.

The low cost – high impact approach was a success. Independent analysis of the pilot project states that the newborn mortality fell consistently during 2003-2006 in the region. Newborn care and staff are now better able to save lives, and provide better care.

WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION?

Matthew Taylor
UNICEF Uzbekistan
Tel. (998 71) 233 95 12
Cell: (99893) 399 05 58
mataylor@unicef.org

Gulnara Mansurova
Europa House Tashkent
Tel: (998 71) 139 17 01
Gulnara.Mansurova@europahouse.uz