Ashgabat, 27 August 2010 – The international consultants Tatyana Buzdugan and Kanat Suhanberdiyev provided advisory services within the joint project “Improving access and utilization of quality maternal health services” of Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, from 16 until 20 August 2010 in Ashgabat.  The purpose of the mission was to introduce the World Health Organization (WHO) initiative “Beyond the numbers” and to share the successful practices in improving maternal health and decreasing maternal near miss cases with the Turkmenistan counterparts.

The international health and development community has repeatedly called for action to address this issue; governments, including Turkmenistan, have formally committed themselves to doing so, notably at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, and by adopting the Millennium Development Goals, where improvement of maternal health is the essential prerequisite for development and poverty reduction.  

During their visit, the consultants held meetings with the representatives of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry, National Clinical Center for Mother and Child Health, maternal hospitals of Ashgabat and the specialist working at the primary level.  

At the end of their mission, the consultants facilitated the roundtable meeting for the decision makers, leading obstetricians/gynecologists and professors of the medical schools from across the country to discuss the WHO initiative “Beyond the numbers” and application of the confidential “maternal audit” in the health care system. Mr. Suhanberdiyev stated that the confidential audit programme “does not seek the guilty, but seeks the causes.”

Following the presentations on successful practices in Moldova and Kazakhstan, the roundtable participants engaged in vigorous discussions on implementing the qualified analysis of the maternal mortality and near miss cases in Turkmenistan, the tools and challenges.  The roundtable participants also actively exchanged views on quality of medical services in maternity hospitals.  

As a result of the dialogue, the recommendations were issued on identifying the priorities and initial stages for the confidential analysis of the maternal mortality cases in Turkmenistan.  The participants highlighted the need for Ministry of Health and Medical Industry’s support, necessity to revise the standards, capacity development, involvement of the partners and international experts and exchange of experiences with other countries and pilot hospitals.

***

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

UNFPA – because everyone counts.

For additional information, please contact
Gozel Hojayeva, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel: 425250
Web: turkmenistan.unfpa.org