Events

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Дата: 25.10.2022

The project is implemented in accordance with the Government Decree of the Russian Federation No. 1231-Р dated 22.05.2020, with full funding from the Russian Federation.

The project aims to improve the quality of hospital care to reduce maternal, newborn and child deaths through a detailed assessment of the quality of care in medical centers in the participating countries, analysis of assessment results, development and implementation of measures to improve the quality of hospital care.

The Project Meeting was attended by the following Russian representatives: Oleg Salagay, Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation; Alexandra Usacheva, Deputy Director of the Department for International Cooperation and Public Relations, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation; D. Kirillova, Head of the Division for International Development Assistance of the Department of International Financial Relations of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation; Ekaterina Yarotskaya, Head of the Department of International Cooperation, and Elizaveta Khamatkhanova, Head of the Department of Educational Simulation Technologies in Medicine of the National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology named after Academician V.I. Kulakov.

The participating countries (Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia and Vietnam) were represented by more than 60 speakers, headed by representatives of the Ministries of Health of these countries. WHO representatives were Anshu Banerjee, Director of the WHO Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing (MCA); Svetlana Axelrod, Director of the Global Noncommunicable Diseases Platform (NCDs); Wilson Were (MCA) and others. 

The WHO Regional Office for Europe was represented by Project Coordinator Martin Weber, Programme Manager for Child and Adolescent Health, and others. The Meeting was started with the presentation by Oleg Salagay, Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation, on the reproductive women's and children's health care programs which are implemented in Russia; he also mentioned prospects for cooperation with WHO in these area. Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO Deputy Director-General, expressed her deep gratitude to the Government of the Russian Federation for the financial support of the Project and noted the long-term productive cooperation of WHO, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and WHO Collaborating Centers in Russia.

The program of the Meeting included 11 sessions on the following topics:

• Review of the initiative progress (Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) and Noncommunicable Diseases Platform (NCD);
• Progress of the project at the country level;
• Presentation of the “Learning in Practice” activity;
• Systematic approach to the implementation of quality of care programs (QoC) for mothers, newborns and children at the country level: experience of the participating countries;
• Development of a data system and plan to support planning and implementation of QoC programs;
• Focusing project design and implementation processes on monitoring effectiveness and evaluating results;
• On-site assistance: supportive supervision (SP), SP coaching and clinical mentoring;
• Development and implementation of a scalable system of supportive supervision in the health care system;
• Improving the national environment for better quality of care;
• Updates in the NCD control: regional and country experience;
• Development and training of clinical competencies in maternal, newborn, and child care: approaches to improve clinical competencies at the national level.

In each session, representatives from participating countries presented their reports. Some sessions were moderated by Ekaterina Yarotskaya and Elizaveta Khamatkhanova, representatives of WHO Collaborating Centers in Russia.

Ekaterina Yarotskaya and Elizaveta Khamatkhanova also gave a presentation about the experience from the Russian Collaborating Centers in working with countries to scale up healthcare workers’ competencies. The presentation included all the international projects of the Muskoka Initiative and cooperation between the National Centers (The National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology named after Academician V.I. Kulakov and the National Medical Research Center for Children's Health of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation) and WHO.

As a part of the Project, since 2021, more than 20 specialists of two National Centers under the supervision of Ekaterina Yarotskaya and Elizaveta Khamatkhanova have participated in four missions in Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic (WHO trainings on effective perinatal care and on hospital assessment tools; assessment of quality of care in 20 pilot hospital of two countries; trainings for WHO trainers; meetings on interim results of improving the quality of hospital care).

Experts from the National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology named after Academician V.I. Kulakov and the National Medical Research Center for Children's Health of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation prepared 7 new training modules for practice-oriented trainings, made suggestions for the development of Pocket Book for obstetricians. Experts also conduct simulation trainings in Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic and in the National Centers of the Russian Federation. In July-August 2022, 199 specialists have been trained in Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan as part of on-site seminars.

As for the other two countries participating in the project (Mongolia and Vietnam), the National WHO Collaborating Centers were involved in remote discussions on project implementation in these countries during 2020-2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Within the framework of the Meeting, special sessions were held to plan further steps of the project. In particular, an agreement was reached that Mongolian specialists will visit the Center in the end of 2022, and the Russian specialists will conduct practice-oriented trainings both in Mongolia and in Moscow at the STC.

On September 22, a meeting of representatives of WHO Headquarters and the Russian Centers was held to discuss current state of the Project and prospects for the period from 2024. Representatives of WHO Headquarters expressed their gratitude to the Government of the Russian Federation for their support of the Project and noted the significant contribution of the National Centers (especially the National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology named after Academician V.I. Kulakov) to its realization, and expressed a strong wish to plan a new joint project based on the current one.

The head of the Russian delegation Oleg Salagay expressed satisfaction with the course of the Project and emphasized the significant role of Russian experts in it, he also noted a positive tendency for their more active involvement in the Project (seminars and meetings initiated by WHO). He assured that the WHO request to launch a new Project starting in 2024 (on the basis of the current one) will be presented to the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.