Home › USAID/Armenia Programs › Healthcare

Healthcare

PrintPrintE-mailE-mail

health careOver the past decade USAID has assisted the Government of Armenia in its efforts to establish a more cost-effective, equitable and sustainable health system. While there are overall improvements in primary health care (PHC) and maternity services throughout the country, state expenditure on health care remains low at 1.6% of GDP, which is well below the low-middle income countries’ average indicator of 4% of GDP. As a result, health consumers must pay a large proportion of health costs out of their own pocket, which strongly affects the poorest and the most vulnerable. 

Building upon past experience and accomplishments, USAID programs in the health sector continue to strengthen the capacity of Armenian healthcare stakeholders – Ministry of Health, regional health departments, health facilities, professional associations, and NGOs – to improve the environment for PHC reforms. Maternal and child health (MCH), Reproductive health and family planning (RH/FP) and Tuberculosis (TB) continue to be the priority areas for USAID interventions in Armenia, thereby contributing to a significant reduction in maternal and child morbidity, mortality and abortion rates, as well as to early diagnosis and successful treatment of Tuberculosis. USAID programs enhance the clinical and managerial skills of health care providers, strengthen PHC facility management, and improve health knowledge and demand for services through community mobilization and health education efforts. USAID system level interventions include but are not limited to: (1) strengthening of the country’s Health Information System, (2) providing research for health policy development, (3) piloting and introducing health financing and reimbursement models; (4) providing assistance in health services quality improvement.
 

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

Healthcare System Strengthening in Armenia (HS-STAR) Project aims to address key constraints in health financing, leadership and governance, human resources, and information systems that impede access to and delivery of quality health services. The project relies on an approach that simultaneously aims to strengthen the health system while improving the quality of care and increasing population knowledge in priority service areas, including maternal and child health, reproductive health and family planning, tuberculosis, non-communicable diseases and emergency medicine. HS-STAR aims to significantly enhance local capacity to design, implement and monitor reform interventions to foster sustainability. To this end, HS-STAR provides technical assistance to the Armenian government through program components of health financing and governance, quality improvement (including MCH, TB, RH/FP), and civil society engagement to adopt health care seeking behaviors.

  • Jan 2011-Jan 2014, $9.6m, implemented by ABT Associates Inc.

Expansion of the Armenian-American Wellness Center (AAWC):  This Global Development Alliance project provides physical examinations, health promotion, breast and cervical cancer screening to Armenia population. About 90% of the clinic’s beneficiaries are women and girls.

  • Feb 2011-Feb 2014, $300,000, implemented by Armenian American Cultural Associations, Inc.

The 2010 Armenia Demographic Health Survey (ADHS) is the third of its kind, serving as USAID’s primary demographic and health data collection project. DHS survey tackles the following: (1) demographic data on respondents and households, including Wealth Quintiles, (2) reproductive health statistics, (2) child nutrition and health indicators, (3) maternal health outcomes, (4) women’s demographic and health outcomes, (5) status of non-communicable and communicable diseases of social importance, such as common chronic disorders, HIV and Tuberculosis

  • Sep 2009-Sep 2012, $1.5m, implemented by ICF Macro in collaboration with Republic of Armenia National Statistic Service and Ministry of Health (project URL: http://www.measuredhs.com)

Center of Excellence for the Prevention of Childhood Blindness (CEPCB) - the project provides technical assistance to prevent the incidence of childhood blindness due to retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) through establishing a Regional Center of Excellence. The project seeks to decrease incidence of lifelong blindness in premature infants in Armenia and the region, improve image of Armenia as a country with the capacity to provide high-quality specialized eye care services, and improve communication among eye care specialists in the region.

  • Aug 2012-Aug 2015, $1m, implemented by the Armenian EyeCare Project (AECP)

Emergency Medical Care Services for Armenia’s Population - this Limited Scope Grant Agreement with the Ministry of Health of Armenia aims to enhance experience and increase capacity of the Ministry of Health in designing, implementing and monitoring targeted innovative health programs that are contributing to improved access to quality medical services for the population of Armenia.

  • Jan 2012-Jan 2014, $495,000, implemented by the RA Ministry of Health

WHO grant on Technical Assistance of Tuberculosis (TB) Services:  USAID Armenia is providing technical assistance to develop TB policy documents as well as do policy-level research focusing primarily on prevention of TB and Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR TB) cases and improvement of antibiotic prescription practice in Armenia.

  • 2007-2012, $450,000, implemented by WHO Armenia