Annual Program Report 2004 - American International Health Alliance

Photo: Courtesy of Sabirabad Regional Hospital
In Azerbaijan, AIHA partners are bringing much-needed primary
care services to the nation's many internally displaced persons.
other regions of Kazakhstan were selected to participate
in implementing the model of integrated
primary care and social services. Volunteer
Services Overseas and Columbia University’s
School of Social Work are collaborating with
AIHA to develop and implement the social services
components of the project.
Kosovo
A reproductive health partnership between
Dartmouth Medical School and the municipality
of Gjakova in Kosovo is strengthening family medicine-based
antenatal care. Training materials and
patient forms in Albanian and English were developed
based on WHO’s Antenatal Care Model. In
November, a US antenatal care specialist facilitated
the first full antenatal care training in Gjakova. Ten
of the 11 participants passed the post-training
knowledge and skills tests and were certified.
Earlier in the year, a PHC partnership between
Gjilan and Dartmouth wrapped up a highly successful
three-year project that improved the quality
of family medicine practice by implementing new
patient management systems, institutionalizing
continuous quality improvement processes, and
establishing community-based health programs.
Russia
Four primary healthcare partnerships graduated
during 2004, having established three PHC centers,
two Women’s Wellness Centers and two
community health education centers, along with
numerous new models of primary care services,
including for the management of chronic diseases
such as asthma and hypertension. Each partnership
received additional funding to replicate successful
programs at other sites. These replications
included the Tomsk community health education
centers, the Samara asthma management and
nursing management programs, the Sarov hypertension
management program and the Kurgan
neonatal program. The partnerships held a joint
best practices dissemination conference for 535
professionals and provided training and technical
assistance at the replication sites. More than 1,300
professionals attended training and specialized
dissemination conferences and 5,000 people participated
in health promotion and disease management
programs during the year.
Two additional primary healthcare partnerships –
Sakhalin/Houston and Volgograd/Little Rock –
successfully completed their projects during 2004.
In Sakhalin, a Teen Health Education Center and a
Mayoral Health Council are now actively engaged
in community-based health promotion activities.
In Volgograd, partners established a family medicine
clinic that serves as a residency training site.
The two partnerships received new funding for
HIV/AIDS prevention and family planning/reproductive
health, respectively.
Turkmenistan
An additional project was initiated in Ashgabat to
build on the work of the Ashgabat/North Dakota
partnership (1999-2003). The project focuses on
further strengthening PHC capacity building at
the Family Medicine Training Center, opened in
2000. Curriculum and training needs were
assessed to develop a women’s health module in
family medicine.
Ukraine
Six PHC partnerships graduated, ending the
USAID-funded partnership program and leaving a
legacy of 12 sustainable model PHC centers and
numerous PHC physicians and nurses trained at the
five skills-based training centers established by the
partnerships. The PHC centers provide high-quality
care to a population of approximately 75,000
people. The Donetsk and Kramatorsk/Pittsburgh
partners trained 65 practitioners from 22 women’s
health centers as Lamaze instructors and introduced
treatment protocols for cervical erosion, bronchitis,
Annual Program Report 2004 13