Asian Development Bank

JFPR 9056: Reducing Neonatal Mortality
Kyrgyz Republic (KGZ)

Project Summary

Counterpart loan/project(s)

Grant Type

Task Officer/ Department

Budget

Executing Agency

Implementing Agency

Scope

The Project will cover the four poorest raions in Osh oblast (province)

Objectives

Reduce the neonatal mortality rate (NMR)³ in the four poorest raions (districts) in Osh oblast, thereby reducing the infant mortality rate (IMR), a key millennium development goal (MDG).

Neonatal deaths account for about 50% of infant deaths in Kyrgyz Republic. Therefore, the reduction of NMR will greatly contribute to reducing IMR.

• Improve the capacity of primary and first referral health care by providing refresher training to health workers and promoting best practices in antenatal, delivery, and neonatal care.
• Improve maternal health care and knowledge and practice on maternal health especially maternal nutrition, through an information, education and communication (IEC) campaign.

Main Project Components and Activities

This component aims to improve the quality of antenatal, delivery and neonatal care provided by the primary health care (PHC) system, including home visits by health care workers, PHC facilities and the first referral health care at raion (district) hospitals. Health workers require training and essential supplies for providing effective care. Only few health workers have received training on updated knowledge and methodology of antenatal, delivery and neonatal care. While the training on inpatient antenatal and delivery care has been developed in the country, the training needs to be reviewed and modified for out-patient care, and strengthened in neonatal care.

Data available at raion hospitals show that 70-90% of pregnant women in the participating four raions are anemic, which reflects the poor status of overall maternal nutrition and health. This component aims to improve the maternal health care and practices especially at the community level. Women's knowledge of maternal health and anemia in the communities is uneven, and women desire more information on their health through mass media or health workers. The Government plans to organize a roundtable meeting to review the problems of maternal health, existing programs, and develop and implement an affordable iron supplementation pilot program for poor pregnant women.

The component will support project implementation, and monitoring and evaluation activities. The Grant will support a grant implementation unit (GIU) in Osh oblast that will oversee daily project activities in the participating raions, and a liaison unit in Bishkek.

The Grant will also support monitoring/supervision activities, and evaluation studies, including baseline and endline surveys designed to evaluate the outcomes of project interventions. Monitoring and evaluation will make maximum use of the data that is routinely collected by the health care system. Data on health care practice will be collected by training supervisors and health workers based on a checklist developed to monitor the practice of health workers. Sample survey will be conducted for specific indicators, including change in food intake patterns; and knowledge of maternal health needs.