|
|
|
|
|
Overview
UNFPA
Assistance began in 1992 shortly after the country gained
independence from the former Soviet Union. Support consisted
of assistance in the procurement of contraceptives and
related training.
The Republic of Turkmenistan, with a land area of 491.2
thousand square kilometers, is located between the Caspian
Sea in the west and Amudarya River in the east. The population
of the country is estimated at 5 million. |
 |
| 1 |
Strengthen
the Government's work on Health Care reform with
a focus on Primary Health Care. |
| 2 |
Ensure
balanced distribution of contraceptive choices and
services. |
| 3 |
Increase
mass media coverage on reproductive health issues
with a particular focus on adolescents. |
| 4 |
Assist
the Government with strengthened development planning,
taking population issues into account. |
| 5 |
Improve
data collection and analysis services. |
| 6 |
Continue
its advocacy program. |
|
| Although
Turkmenistan is one of the energy rich nations of the
world, stability in the economy is however tied to changing
economic conditions of the countries that purchase Turkmen
gas. Turkmenistan is a presidential republic; Saparmurat
Turkmenbashi was elected the lifelong President of the
country in 1999. 2000-2004 Country program for Turkmenistan
envisages disbursement of US $ 800,00 per annum from the
combination of the regular and multi-by resource and this
amount was considered for the initial planning of the
program activities at the beginning of the year. In the
mean time, provision of regular resource for the program
support has been reduced to US $480,000, because of the
overall availability of resources in UNFPA. As of July
2000 a total of 6 projects have been initiated, 3 projects
in RH including IEC project, 1 in advocacy, 1 in PDS and
1 in Program Coordination (Umbrella). A total of the US
$ 471,0000 is allocated against these projects and the
program implementation rate stands at 43 %. The program
is being delivered through the mixture of execution modalities,
which include national execution and projects implemented
by WHO, UNSD and UNFPA. In the result of the fruitful
cooperation relationships with USAID a joint project on
the implementation of the demographic and health survey
is being implemented this year. This project has also
resulted in mobilization of US $113,000 from USAID to
support the DHS Project, which will be implemented by
the Marco International within the course of the year.
Data of the survey will be used as a baseline to support
and evaluate future program activities. Within the joint
UN Theme Group initiatives on the HIV/AIDS and STDs prevention
activities, UNFPA is supporting review and adoption of
the WHO syndrome management of STDs for Turkmenistan.
Other cooperation activities include advocacy support
for the expansion of the vaccination programs, and coordination
with WHO office for the reform programs in the field of
reproductive health and compliance of the various initiatives
in this with the national strategies and other programs
UNFPA has taken the lead in the process of primary health
care reforms in the field of reproductive health. Reproductive
Health Activities of this year include training of service
providers at the etrap level, which includes modern contraceptives
technology for family doctors as well as such topics as
antenatal and neonatal care, safe motherhood and delivery.
Simultaneously, within the presidential health reform
frameworks, ways for the incorporation of the comprehensive
RH service delivery within the current health care system
are being explored. As the initial stage of this process
focus discussions and training are being conducted with
the chief doctors of the etrap hospitals. In the field
of PDS and data collection, UNFPA is providing support
to the first mini-census, which will be conducted among
the 5% sampling frame of the households. Other activities
in this field include technical assistance for the development
of the data banks and improvement of the collection and-analysis
for the decision making process. According to the UNFPA
guidelines, a steering committee has been established
to oversee the implementation of the program and coordinate
the relevant activities, which are being used intensively
to improve the coordination efforts with the Government
and ensure national ownership. Reduction of the annual
ceiling has resulted in the delay of the following activities:
initiation of the Project on the RH service for adolescents,
procurement of medical equipment and supplies, opening
of 5 youth and 5 women education centers which was planned
to be done jointly with national unions of women and youth.
A number of the other activities has been slowed down
or transferred to the next year due to the same problem
and this includes expansion of the family life education
curriculum in formal school system, printing of textbooks
and other teaching aids. According to the information
provided by the field office, the contraceptive stock-out
situation may be observed by the end of the year. In order
to procure an additional shipment of contraceptives for
the next year, the annual ceiling will have to be considered
for revision, otherwise, due to the inadequate resources
availability it can lead to the reduction of the program
activities. |
|
|
