Improve Utilization of High Quality Reproductive Health Services

Project name: ARM1R001 Strengthening of SRH services

Budget: 110,700 USD

Timeline: January 2006 - December 2006

What's the situation?

After a sharp deterioration in the mid-90s, Armenia's reproductive health situation is gradually improving:

Although Maternal Mortality had dropped slightly from 1990-98, this trend was reversed in 1999-2000, with the highest Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of 61 per 100,000 live births recorded in 2000. However, the situation has been improving again since 2001, bringing the MMR to 16.4 in 2003. This positive shift is attributed to the revitalization of mobile emergency obstetric services and also to an increase in budget allocations to reproductive health.

Access to reproductive health commodities has improved since 1996, due to the supply of modern contraceptives to the public sector and to the availability of some items particularly condoms, pills and spermicides in private pharmacies.

Among other important achievements is the adoption of the Law on Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights in 2002, and inclusion of reproductive health into the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for Armenia. The law has set a legal framework for more effective implementation of the Programme of Action from the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, and the PRSP has paved the way for the gradual and substantial increase of state budget allocations to primary health care, particularly for safe motherhood and reproductive health programmes.

The current Reproductive Health (RH) situation in Armenia is characterized by:

• Universal knowledge of contraception methods (99% of married women). However this is accompanied by a rather low use of modern methods (25%)

• A declining but still high rate of induced abortion (total abortion rate (TAR) of 1.8 (instead of 2.6) per woman), and limited availability of post abortion care and counselling

• An extremely high level of secondary infertility even among married women (28.5%), caused by high levels of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and induced abortions

The main constraints on improving reproductive health care in Armenia are related to poverty, low spending on health (including RH), complex issues of ongoing health and social services reforms and high inequality in access to services and information.

What's our mission?

UNFPA is focussing its assistance in the following six areas:

• Establishing a network of family planning units
• Improving access to and quality of antenatal services and emergency obstetric care
• Establishing a national reproductive health and reproductive rights legal framework
• Strengthening the capacity of the Government to manage and deliver reproductive health services
• Improving the awareness and skills of young people concerning sexual and reproductive health
• Fostering partnerships between the Government and civil society

How is UNFPA doing this?

The implementation of this project involves the following activities:

•  Expanding the coverage and outreach of mobile reproductive health teams and emergency obstetric care teams to remote and poor areas

•  Strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Health in Emergency Obstetric Care (EOC) coordination and referral;

•  Developing an effective reproductive health logistics and management information system

•  Providing family planning services through family doctors

•  Promoting the sharing of knowledge and the transfer of expertise from leading reproductive health centres to primary-level providers

•  Strengthening the capacity of reproductive health service providers in managing infertility and reproductive tract cancers

•  Other key interventions include:

•  Developing a comprehensive information, education and communication (IEC) and advocacy strategy to increase the use of integrated reproductive health services

•  Implementing sexual and reproductive health advocacy and IEC activities

This IEC strategy will be developed and improved, with lessons learned from past assistance taken into consideration, particularly the need to involve the male population in the activities. The strategy will set out a set of activities to reach out to the most vulnerable and poor groups of the population

Who are our partners?

In the course of the programme implementation UNFPA has worked in partnership with a broad range of government institutions, UN Agencies, NGOs as well as academic, health, educational and social support institutions.

How will Armenia benefit?

Knowledge of sexual and reproductive health will improve among Armenia's population of reproductive age, including the poor, hard-to-reach groups, internally displaced persons and refugees.

Access to RH services, particularly for poor, vulnerable groups, and for young people will be improved and the demand for those services (using advocacy, IEC strategies) will be increased. The IEC strategy will focus on such issues as preventing abortion and increasing the use of modern contraceptives; preventing STIs/HIV/AIDS; preventing cervical cancer by regular visits to RH facilities; safe motherhood; and preventing gender based violence. The country will also benefit from the creation of a user-friendly and safe environment for SRH services

Project Documents:

Contact Details:

Mr. Garik Hayrapetyan
UNFPA Assistant Representative
garik@unfpa.am

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