Poverty Reduction Blog Tag: Health

MCC hands over new blood transfusion center in Lesotho

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Alice Riedel, Lesotho Deputy Resident Country Director

I had the honor of taking part in handing over the newly constructed Lesotho Blood Transfusion Services Center last month. MCC invested in the new center—which is expected to collect 5,000 blood units in 2013, compared to 3,381 in 2008—to help improve health services in Lesotho.

The country’s former blood transfusion center was too small; it lacked proper equipment and operated from a rented property in Maseru that was not designed to provide transfusion services. The new center, part of MCC’s five-year, $363 million compact with Lesotho, provides a dedicated central facility for collecting and processing blood to supply nearby hospitals.

MCC also invested in a mobile blood collection vehicle that will collect and transfer blood to the new center for screening.

“The new center is a huge achievement for the Ministry of Health,” said Maleqhoa Nyopa, manager of the Lesotho Blood Transfusion Service.“We have been struggling to implement our activities effectively,” Nyopa said. “Now that we have been given this new building, which is bigger than the one we have been using, our work is going to improve tremendously. The building is large enough to allow us to store as much blood as possible, which will help save lives.”

In addition to this center, the compact’s Health Sector Project is designed to mitigate the negative economic impacts of poor maternal health, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and other diseases. MCC is strengthening Lesotho’s health care system through the construction of up to 138 health centers spread across the country, hospital outpatient departments, staff housing, and a central laboratory and residences to accommodate National Health Training College students.

The infrastructure investments are so numerous and complex and cover such a vast geographic area, that it can be difficult to remember the real impact in the lives of individual Basotho. A colleague’s friend who works in a hospital in Lesotho recently shared with me some of the challenges of managing the blood supply here. He told me that having enough blood to serve all patients is extremely challenging because of the testing required, given the 24 percent rate of HIV prevalence. He is confident that the new blood center, along with blood drives, will alleviate some of these challenges.

I am proud to be part of an initiative that is helping improve health care in Lesotho in practical ways like making sure that there is adequate blood supply when a woman needs an emergency operation while giving birth. We are leaving behind tangible results.

Toward a healthier Mongolia

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Tim Clary , Director, Division of Technical Services

For decades, most international health projects have focused on addressing communicable diseases that were major causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries.

But now, many countries are facing a double burden as non-communicable diseases and injuries (NCDIs) have become more prevalent. More than five years ago, when the Government of Mongolia chose to focus on NCDIs as part of its MCC compact, it probably did not foresee that it would become a leader in providing lessons for other countries seeking to address NCDI issues.

The compact’s $39 million Health Project, geographically covers the entire country and 95 percent of the Mongolian population. It addresses the issue of NCDIs through a multi-pronged approach and on several different technical levels.

Last month, I visited Clinical Hospital No. 3 in Ulaanbaatar, where compact funds will be used to refurbish and provide equipment to help the hospital become the nation’s primary center for diagnosing, caring for and treating Mongolians suffering from strokes and acute myocardial infarctions. In Khentii aimag, I visited hospitals that typically provide primary care services and that now provide both secondary and tertiary health care, such as diagnosing cervical cancer and providing ongoing treatment for diabetes and hypertension. At both levels, health care providers have received extensive training on NCDIs, ranging from emergency care to counseling patients on healthy lifestyles and behaviors. This helps the community by preventing diseases which will help them live longer and healthier lives.

Compact funds have also been used to sponsor a small grants program in the community so NGOs, private clinics and non-health organizations (such as elementary and secondary schools) can receive funding for innovative ideas to support the reduction in NCDIs.

Fundamental to the support for health care workers and their patients have been policy changes within the public and private sectors. Millennium Challenge Account-Mongolia has worked with the Government of Mongolia to revise tobacco and alcohol laws, as well as establishing a health promotion fund to address NCDIs.

Within the private sector, MCA-Mongolia has worked with organizations such as Talkh-Chikher bakery to reduce the salt content within its Atar bread, Mongolia’s leading brand of bread.

The main lesson from my site visit to the Talkh-Chikher bakery in Ulaanbaatar is that advocacy is bringing change.

Strengthening health infrastructure and systems in Lesotho

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Marcel Ricou, Program Officer

About 23 percent of Lesotho’s population is infected with HIV/AIDS, one of the highest prevalence rates in the world. In response, MCC has invested $122 million in health infrastructure and to strengthen Lesotho’s health systems. A major portion of the Health Sector Project focuses on rehabilitating 138 health centers across the country, all of which play a pivotal role in providing primary health care to local communities. MCC’s investments leverage those from other donor and U.S. Government programs, including the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Program officer Marcel Ricou shows us how MCC and the Government of Lesotho are working together to combat HIV/AIDS.

The power of partnership in Indonesia

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Patrick Fine, Vice President, Department of Compact Operations

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Two weeks ago, MCC was delighted to host a delegation from the Government of Indonesia (GOI) for the signing of a Project Implementation Agreement (PIA), the document that sets out the operational details for implementing MCC’s compact with Indonesia. The compact focuses on investments in renewable energy and sustainable natural resource use, maternal and child nutrition, and public procurement modernization.

The Indonesian delegation was led by Pak Lukita Tuwo, who is the Vice Minister of the Planning Ministry and GOI’s principal representative for the MCC compact.  Pak Lukita was accompanied by members of his staff, including Ibu Emmy, the head of the Ministry’s legal bureau, and Pak Kennedy, its director for bilateral foreign funding. 

We were also pleased to be joined by Pak Dino Djalal, Indonesia’s Ambassador to the United States, and Ambassador Djani, who is the head of North American and European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Djani was in Washington for the semi-annual meeting of the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership, where Secretary of State Clinton and Foreign Minister Natalegawa announced the signing of the PIA.

The signing, which took place in MCC’s Washington office, was marked by a sense of celebration and anticipation: MCC and GOI expect the compact to enter into force within the next few months. The PIA sets out the terms for the new Millennium Challenge Account – Indonesia (MCA-I), the first institution of its kind in the country and one that we hope will provide a path-breaking model for other development projects in Indonesia.  

We’re also seeing other signs of progress as we move toward entry into force: the first meeting of the MCA-I Board of Trustees, the approval of the first disbursement request for funds, and the signing of five major contracts. I’m proud of what the MCC and GOI teams are doing to move this exciting program forward.  Expectations are high, especially among the Indonesian people in the provinces, where many of the compact activities will be implemented.

While much hard work and many challenges lie ahead, we’re already seeing the power of partnership and are confident that the compact will not only improve lives of Indonesians, but strengthen the ties between our two nations.

Books provide windows to the world

Posted on September 11, 2012 by D. Chuluuntsetseg, MCA-Mongolia, and Ch. Tserenkhand, The Asia Foundation

Last year, Millennium Challenge Account-Mongolia and The Asia Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding that brings the latest medical and technical information to Mongolia’s future doctors, engineers, computer programmers, and other skilled workers.

Under the agreement, the foundation’s Books for Asia program delivered 10,000 new technical, vocational and medical books, CDs and DVDs to students and health centers benefitting from MCC's five-year, $285 million compact with Mongolia.

Many publishers generously contributed to the initiative, including McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons, Oxford University Press, W.W. Norton & Company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Books of Discovery, and Island Press.

Highly motivated teachers and students put the books to practical use. Ms. Dorjderem, an assistant teacher of English at the School of Health Technology, currently uses Hole's Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology-Laboratory Manual to prepare class lectures. She also uses Medical Language for Modern Health Care in her classes to improve her students’ medical English proficiency.

Dorjderem also established the school’s first English reading club, using donated books. The club has become a popular place among teachers, students and nurses to improve their English, teaching and learning skills.

One student, B. Banzragch, significantly improved his English skills and was able to enroll in a course at a Japanese university.

“The books from America helped me a lot in gaining knowledge and language skills to achieve my goals,” he said. “These books are really wonderful in terms of giving systemic knowledge and are well-designed and very user-friendly.”

As the legendary Mongolian poet, D. Natsagdorj said, “books are windows to the world.”

MCC’s Country Commitment Award brings awareness to gender integration in Mongolia

Posted on July 17, 2012 by B. Tsolmon, MCA gender specialist and focal point, and L. Gerelmaa, MCA gender specialist and focal point

MCA-Mongolia’s commitment to gender integration in its compact has received praise on both sides of the Pacific.

We represented MCA-Mongolia at the inaugural MCC Forum on Global Development in April for receiving the Country Commitment Award. To commemorate this achievement, the Mongolian prime minister hosted a high-profile event in May to celebrate the accomplishment in our country as well.

“We can now witness a tangible impact on the lives of thousands of Mongolians as a result of the compact,” Prime Minister Sükhbaataryn Batbold said at the event at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar.

Not only are stakeholders in the U.S. now aware of the positive strides we’ve made with gender integration, but also ministers, cabinet members, and members of the public and press who attended the event in Ulanbaataar.

A compact beneficiary, Javzan T., shared her experiences and expressed her gratitude to MCC and MCA-Mongolia. Javzan T.  is a single mother of eight who benefitted from the compact’s Property Rights Project by having exclusive rights to lease more than 600 hectares of rangeland.

“It is a great opportunity for us to develop our livestock business,” she said. “I would like to express my appreciation to the American people, who have stretched their helping hands to us from such a far place.”

We are very proud to champion the integration of gender considerations across a wide range of operational areas in the Mongolia Compact, including program implementation, communications and monitoring and evaluation. We conducted gender trainings with our program implementation units and contractors and established points of contact on gender issues in each unit. These measures are being reflected in more equitable benefits and have resulted in greater land ownership among women, herder training tailored to both women’s and men’s needs, and health interventions that are mindful of women’s and men’s needs in our communities.

Opening the gateway to opportunity

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Daniel Yohannes , Chief Executive Officer

Today’s release of MCC’s 2011 Annual Report, appropriately titled Gateway to Opportunity, captures the milestones of the past year and articulates clear priorities moving forward. In the report, you can read about the significant strides we have made in delivering results, forging partnerships with countries and civil society, and championing policy reforms to create opportunities for sustainable economic growth in some of the world’s poorest countries. This foundation allows us now to expand our work not just to help poor countries rise out of poverty and break the cycle of aid dependency but also to create stable trading and investment partners for the United States, which means more jobs here at home.

By incentivizing the right policy conditions and generating an enabling environment for growth, MCC builds a Gateway to Opportunity for American businesses interested in exporting to or doing business in these next generation emerging markets as they climb out of poverty. Because of this, MCC’s mission is key to Secretary of State Clinton’s 21st century economic statecraft and President Obama’s efforts to put in place an American economy that is “built to last.” MCC is pushing the envelope on development effectiveness and sustainability through our commitment to transparency, accountability, results, policy reform, and country-driven solutions.

MCC’s approach has not gone unnoticed. A November 2011 Fortune Magazine article concludes that MCC “certainly gives the taxpayer real bang for the buck.” A recent MarketWatch commentary by Thomas Kostigen arguing for a robust MCC budget sums up the impact best: “MCC deserves its fair share so the U.S. can gain its fair share in the emerging markets. The global impact of these investments comes back to us all in the form of food, jobs, more open markets for trade, and doing good and right by others. It’s a boomerang effect.”

We agree, and we’re committed to showcasing even more investment and procurement opportunities for U.S. businesses in the months ahead to ensure the full “boomerang effect” of positive impact for the world’s poor as well as American businesses and workers.

Effectively Engaging the Private Sector

Posted on March 4, 2010 by Jason Bauer, Director of Private Sector Initiatives

This week more than 167 companies attended a procurement conference and heard about contracting opportunities arising from projects funded by Millennium Challenge Corporation compacts. Supported by Business Unity South Africa, Standard Bank, and the U.S. Embassy, the conference was hosted at the Development Bank of Southern Africa in Midrand, South Africa. Country teams from Burkina Faso, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, and Tanzania discussed over $3 billion in procurement opportunities, ranging from building roads and water systems to building health centers and schools. The compact in Ghana and compacts still being developed with the governments of Malawi and Zambia were also discussed.

The conference highlighted the business opportunities that ultimately support MCC’s mission of reducing poverty through economic growth. The conferences key themes included the openness and transparency of the procurement processes, the ability for international companies to bid on compact projects and the unique opportunities for U.S. and international suppliers.

Companies attending the conference included those focusing on infrastructure engineering, design, and construction, as well as those providing project management and technical assistance. The resounding message: MCC partner countries throughout Africa are open for business.