DUSHANBE, August 17, 2009, Asia-Plus — Maternal and child health is a challenge in the Hissor district.
Striving to improve family and community health, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its partner, Mercy Corps, launched a Maternal and Child Health (MCH) program in this district, according to the USAID Dushanbe Office.
An opening ceremony was held at the Hissor Healthy Lifestyle Center on August 15. This is the eighth district for the program, which has been working in seven districts in Sughd since October 2008.
Mercy Corps, an international non-governmental organization, is implementing the program. The program develops and uses community capacity to improve health. The Ministry of Health and Mercy Corps staff will work to expand the use of proven methods that reduce infant and maternal mortality by improving the health of women and of children under the age of five. This project will build knowledge and the capacity of the Ministry of Health to provide sustainable, quality, and life-saving health services.. It will promote healthy behavior change at the household and community levels. The program aims to improve maternal and newborn care, as well as nutrition for children under the age of two, through proper breastfeeding and the timely introduction of appropriate and nutritious complementary foods.
Senior Project Manager, Saadi Izatov, noted that “within this initiative, we plan to work in two jamoats of Hissor — Honaqohi Kuhi and Navobod — where there are 11,347 women of reproductive age and 7,329 children under age five. The project will support the introduction of several national programs, including Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI), Community IMCI, Growth Monitoring Program, Care for Development, and Effective Prenatal Care. We will also work directly with communities to improve their sense of responsibility for their own health and solve community health-related problems.”
Mercy Corps works globally amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty, and instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against nearly impossible odds. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided $1.5 billion in assistance to people in 106 nations. Supported by headquarters in North America and Europe, the agency”s global programs employ 3,500 staff worldwide and reach 16.4 million people in more than 35 countries. Mercy Corps has worked in Tajikistan since 1994.
The Mercy Corps MCH Program is one of many assistance projects implemented in Tajikistan by USAID on behalf of the American people. Since 1993 the American people, through USAID, have provided about $300 million in assistance programs that support economic growth, democratic institutions, health care, and education systems of Tajikistan.
