DUSHANBE, November 15, Asia-Plus — Partnership between the Ministry of Health (MoH) and donor organizations is an efficient tool for making progress in reforming the health sector and introducing modern medical service methods, Health Minister Nusratullo Salimov remarked at a seminar on joint elaboration of Tajikistan health sector development strategy that was held in Dushanbe on November 11.
The minister pointed out an important role of international institutions and NGOs in implementation of the strategy, noting that it was impossible to improve quality of the medical-sanitary aid to the population without “humanitarian aid and implementation of joint investment projects.”
According to him, a number of investment projects funded by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the German Development Bank (kFW), the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, UNFPA, Global Fund and other donors have allowed realizing the main directions of the health system reform in the country.
The meeting, organized by a MoH under technical support of WHO Country Office in Tajikistan and the Community & Basic Health Project Implementation Unit (PIU), was aimed at seeking support of partners for development as well as attracting resources for implementation, and providing further discussion and identification of steps that should be taken by the ministry and partners, the MoH press service said.
According to the MoH data, 19 international financial institutions and 27 international organizations have provided totaling US$121.5 million for development of the health sector in 2004-2010 (54 investment projects). US$26.576 million of this amount have been provided in loans.
