DUSHANBE, June 2, 2009, Asia-Plus — On May 29, in Dushanbe, Dr. Abumuslim Temurov, Head of the Dushanbe City Health Administration Mrs. Kimmatgul Aliberdieva, representative of the State committee on women’s and family’s affairs and representative of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) presented awards to winners of the second annual “Dushanbe’s Best Mother” contest that devoted to the World Children’s Day, according to the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe.
In the contest, which was organized jointly by the City Health Administration and the USAID ZdravPlus project, Dushanbe’s best mother was chosen from among 5,000 participants. The contest tested mothers’ knowledge of such child health topics as immunization, diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, breastfeeding, and tuberculosis, mental and physical development.
Shoira Rahimjonova, Nigina Sattorova, and Ozoda Akramova were chosen as the winners of the contest. Dr. Temurov congratulated the women on their knowledge of children’s health. “Your children and your community will benefit from having such knowledgeable mothers.”
The contest supported efforts of the Dushanbe City Health Administration to increase the public’s knowledge about family medicine and how it improves health. It aimed to make people aware of the importance of using health information to make informed decisions and take responsibility for their own health. It also supported the Ministry of Health’s efforts to promote family medicine as the most effective approach to primary health care.
Announced on April 20, 2009, the contest finished on May 29, 2009, and consisted of two stages. The first stage took place at the health center level, where 14 different health centers participated. Winners from this first stage then became eligible to continue the competition at the city level. More than 5,000 mothers of children under five years old participated in the contest and 14 mothers were selected as the best mothers.
The USAID ZdravPlus project is one of the many assistance projects implemented in Tajikistan by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on behalf of the American people. Since 1993 the American people through USAID have provided more than $300 million in assistance programs that support economic growth, democratic institutions, health care, and the education system of Tajikistan.
