USAID/Albania is working to improve the access, use, and quality of health services, especially for women, children, and the poor, whom surveys indicate are twice as likely to lack access to key public and private services. Other major health care problems include poor quality of hospitals and ambulatory facilities and insufficient reproductive health services. USAID/Albania's activities include helping to reform the primary health care (PHC) system, encouraging the Ministry of Health (MoH) to incorporate family planning and reproductive health services in its programs, and fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Increasing Access to Quality Reproductive Health Services

USAID/Albania's women's reproductive health program began in 1996 with John Snow Incorporated (JSI) as its implementing partner. When the program started, only two maternity hospitals in the capital city, Tirana, offered family planning services. By 1999, four out of 36 districts covering 28 percent of the population were offering reproductive health services. By 2003, the program had expanded to 20 districts covering 68 percent of the population. Today, hundreds of clinics throughout Albania, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, offer a range of integrated reproductive health services. Doctors, nurses, and midwives who have attended workshops by a professional team of trainers are offering quality services in family planning, prenatal care, exclusive breastfeeding, management of sexually transmitted infections, and prevention of HIV/AIDS.

The media played a large role in informing the Albanian public about reproductive health issues. JSI launched a nationwide campaign utilizing radio and television spots, as well as bus-side advertisements. The campaign worked. Health providers are reporting a 20 percent increase in the number of clients that request family planning services since the campaign was launched. The Albanian Ministry of Health is actively involved, overseeing the USAID-funded Contraceptive Logistics Management Information System (CLMIS), which ensures a continuous supply of modern contraceptives at each of the clinics, as well as chairing the Contraceptive Security Commission, which oversees the system and develops policies required to improve and sustain the process. USAID/Albania awarded a new task order to JSI to continue supporting the MoH to provide family planning services in 16 districts of the country while increasing demand for those services through community health promotion activities.

Albania's Program Objectives

SELECTED ACTIVITIES:

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