Helping to improve Reproductive Health in Azerbaijan
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What is UNFPA doing to help ?
UNFPA began its support to Azerbaijan in 1994. Initially this was on a project basis and focused on meeting emergency reproductive health and population needs. Since then, UNFPA has broadened its activities to help Azerbaijan's reproductive health and population sectors. For details of UNFPA's individual projects currently underway in Azerbaijan, click here
Progress so far:
As a leading partner in implementing Azerbaijan's 2003 State Programme of Poverty Reduction and Economic Development (SPPRED) , UNFPA has been active in a wide range of projects to improve or provide medical services, counseling, advocacy and education.
UNFPA has helped to establish a network of 22 reproductive health centers: UNFPA provided medical equipment, contraceptives and training, and the Government of Azerbaijan covered staff salaries and operational costs. This network is being expanded as part of the ongoing health-sector reform. The programme trained more than 1,000 reproductive health service providers and revised protocols for the provision of essential services.
The fund has also helped policy makers to develop a reproductive health law for Azerbaijan and strengthened health services for internally displaced people.
For young people, UNFPA has been supporting education programmes, both within schools and outside them, as the main tool to address the reproductive health issues.
For example, UNFPA has helped to ensure nationwide coverage of a Family Life Education programme. This has been made available to girls and boys aged 15-17 years and their teachers. Topics covered in the programme include:
• The anatomy and physiology of adolescents
• The psychology of adolescent sexual relations
• Problems faced during puberty
• Prevention of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS
• Promotion of healthy lifestyles
Peer education campaigns , where motivated and well informed young people can pass on accurate and helpful information to those of similar ages and backgrounds, are key to increasing young people's awareness of specific issues related to their sexual health and to safe behavior.
Azerbaijan's YPEER initiative will be used to implement a programme for out-of-school education using international expertise which will be adapted to local conditions and sensitivities.
UNFPA has also helped to address Azerbaijan's lack of consistent data on population and reproductive health. The Fund supported national institutions in analyzing and disseminating the results of the first post-independence census in 1999. UNFPA also provided training to staff from the Ministry of Labor and the national statistical committee on the links between population and development and on specific demographic techniques. Several libraries and training centers were opened. The fund also supported the National Academy of Sciences in carrying out research on the socio-cultural aspects of gender.
With its worldwide experience of gathering and analyzing data for development , UNFPA has helped Azerbaijan to collect demographic and socio-economic data and to use it to formulate and implement a national strategy for reproductive health.
If Azerbaijan's national institutions had greater capacity and more specialists, this programme would be able to achieve even more in the area of reproductive rights .
UNFPA has ensured that reproductive health concerns have been reflected in national development plans and national programmes to eradicate poverty. Population, gender and reproductive health priorities are also reflected in the Common Country Assessment (CCA) for Azerbaijan and the United Nations Development Framework (UNDAF)
Current assistance
In its current programme for Azerbaijan, UNFPA aims to increase the use of high quality reproductive health services and to improve access to RH information for women, men and young people.
In order to do this, UNFPA plans to:
• Strengthen the managerial and technical capacity of reproductive health service providers , especially those at the primary health-care level. This will include developing and upgrading protocols on RH and expanding training programmes to include managers, gynecologists and midwives.
• Improve the quality and availability of reproductive health services and commodities, by strengthening the health logistics management information system . This will include providing equipment both to new and already existing reproductive health centers and improving services for young people, displaced persons and the poor in remote areas. As part of this aim, UNFPA also aims to develop and put into practice a needs and procurement plan for RH commodities and improve the information system to manage logistics.
• Increase knowledge and skills of women, men and young people to adopt responsible and healthy sexual and reproductive behavior . Plans to achieve this include: developing and expanding in-school and out-of-school training programmes for young people, including military recruits and supporting the establishment of a youth resource centre at the Ministry of Education. UNFPA will also help spread information through the media and NGOs and will also help to expand community-based activities by community health workers.
A further goal for UNFPA's current programme is to improve Azerbaijan's socio-cultural and policy environment for reproductive rights and gender.
To achieve this, UNFPA plans to
• Strengthen the technical capacity of decision makers, experts, NGOs civil society and the media to formulate, implement and support reproductive health and reproductive rights legislation . In doing this, UNFPA will help develop an advocacy strategy and a help set up cross-sector government team to advocate for reproductive health and rights, legislation and policies. UNFPA will also give technical assistance to review and develop regulations on reproductive health and will support mass media campaigns on reproductive health and rights. As well as organizing roundtable discussions it will also encourage central and local government officials and journalists to take part in awareness-raising campaigns.