SOCIETY
UNICEF, Azerbaijani Health Ministry holds roundtable to discuss achievements in maternal and child health protection
Baku, May 16 (AZERTAC). The Health Ministry of Azerbaijan has conducted a round table to discuss achievements and problems with maternal and child health protection.
The event attended by representatives of the Health Ministry, UNICEF, focused on the issue as early detection and prevention of disability, anemia prevention, innovative improvements in safe motherhood and survival of newborns and children under the age of five and cost effective interventions for micronutrient deficiencies prevention and control especially through food fortification.
The event participants spoke of considerable success achieved in Azerbaijan in the field of maternal and child health, noting “As a result of constant attention and care shown by the Azerbaijani government number of fatal outcome in the field has decreased in the country”.
At the end, the event participants were informed about the work done within the frames of the “Azerbaijan Strengthening Health Systems through Integrated Programs (AZ SHIP).
The Governments of the United States of America and Azerbaijan have worked closely over the past six years to improve health care services for the population of Azerbaijan. Continuing this partnership, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently launched a new two-year health project - “Azerbaijan Strengthening Health Systems through Integrated Programs (AZ SHIP).
AZ SHIP will provide technical assistance to improve health care by addressing constraints in governance, resource management, quality of services as well as education and empowerment of health care consumers. The project will build on past accomplishments of USAID’s health projects. AZ SHIP will play a critical role in building capacity of health providers to diagnose and treat prioritized health diseases. AZ SHIP will target maternal, neonatal, and child health, reproductive health/family planning, and tuberculosis services. It will further integrate these priority areas into the primary health care delivery system.
Child Mortality in Azerbaijan has reduced by 50 percent in the last twenty years, which is good progress towards MDG 4, which requires a two-thirds reduction of child mortality by 2015.