Country Programme (2007-2011/2012) evaluation - UNFPA Moldova

has started through direct contracting of primary healthcare providers by the National Health Insurance
Company. During the period 1997-2004 the number of hospitals decreased by 26.5% (rural hospitals,
which were not economically and medically efficient, were closed), and the number of beds was reduced
by about 50%. A significant part of resources saved by optimization of beds were redirected to the
primary care sector. 48 family doctors centres were created intowns, as well as 383 rural health centres
and 554 family doctors offices, providing primary health care until now by means of family doctor team.
In order to reduce inequalities and increase the access to the healthcare system, including of vulnerable
groups, the National Health Policy, which determined priorities and directions of healthcare development
for a 15-year term, was adopted in 2007. In the context of compulsory health insurance, all expenses
related to healthcare of mothers and children at all levels are covered from the public budget. Perinatal
care was regionalized, which ensured proper division of pregnant women and new-borns, and
implementation of transportation in utero. In the recent years the optimization of the system’s operation
was promoted as a result of the strengthening of a specialized regional ambulance service for transporting
infants.
Poverty, Income and Inequality
Since 2000, monetary (consumption) poverty levels have more than halved, after a previous period of
poverty increase. Throughout the last decade, the country’s strong growth performance and the reception
of remittances helped to reduce monetary poverty quickly. However, these important achievements have
not been accompanied at the same rate with improvements in other social indicators (MDGs, HD), as seen
above. Additionally, it is still not clear if the achieved poverty results will be sustainable, since at the
moment they still depend heavily on the vulnerable rates of growth and reception of remittances and on
the limited financial capacities of the government to counteract critical income situations at a household
level with social protection. Income (consumption) poverty reduction can be sustainable throughout
efforts coming from the very households labour market participation. In recent years however labour
markets participation and activity rates in the country have been constantly decreasing. This fact increases
the vulnerability of poverty reduction achievements. An additional concern regarding the distribution of
the welfare outcomes of growth and remittances is the inequality of household incomes, which has
remained unchanged in recent years (roughly at a Gini of 0.3). The global Human Development Report
2010 argues that the inequality level of the income distribution reduces the potential positive impact
which income has on Moldova’s HDI by 19.4%.
European Integration
The Government of Moldova regards European integration as the most fundamental priority of domestic
and foreign policy. The assumption behind this policy objective is that the responsible implementation of
commitments, deriving from the European course, is the most efficient way to achieve political, economic
and social modernization. In practice, this means that the government will undertake further reforms in
areas related to freedom of mass media, independence of judiciary, and liberalization of the economy.
Public Administration
The National Development Strategy 2008-2011 (NDS) acknowledged the weakness of the existing
capacity of the public administration and its ability to render good public service. As recently as 2007, the
situation in the central public administration could be characterized by non-compliance with the current
UNFPA Moldova Extended Country Programme (2007-2011/12)
Outcome Evaluation
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