Ashgabat, Turkmenistan – UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund is being active in assisting the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry (MoH MI) of Turkmenistan in improving the quality of services for mothers and newborns by using World Health Organization (WHO) analytical tools  such as perinatal audit and near miss cases reviews (NMCR).

As a result of this cooperation practice of NMCR was expanded this year in 4 more sites in 2 maternities in Ashgabat and Dashoguz (Northern Province of Turkmenistan) in addition to 5 piloted in Mary velayat since 2015. In July 2017 the MoH MI has endorsed the order on NMCR (Order #215) and established the National coordination committee on NMCR and process of scaling up of NMCR in other velayats.

In practical terms, women are considered near-miss cases when they survive life-threatening conditions. The WHO near miss approach is a standardized method which is implemented in three steps: (1) baseline assessment; (2) situation analysis; and (3) interventions for improving the quality of services through lessons learnt.

On 2 August 2017 WHO in Turkmenistan held a meeting with UNFPA, UNICEF colleagues and national specialists from all velayats upon returning from the field trip to Dashoguz of Dr. Gunta Lazdane, Programme Manager, Sexual and Reproductive Health in the WHO Regional Office for Europe, and Dr. Stelian Hodorogea, WHO consultant.  Meeting participants have discussed the achievements and opportunities of Turkmenistan in improving maternal and newborn health indicators with focus on NMCR. Dr. Gunta Lazdane outlined the progress of the countries of the WHO European Region in improving the maternal health. Dr. Stelian Hodorogea presented the progress of NMCR implementation in the region since 2016 and shared the achieved experience during NMCR implementation.

UN colleagues and experts have provided the policy advice and technical support to the national specialists for further expanding the practice of NMCR in Turkmenistan. Based on those inputs the national specialists have outlined their needs for support from the MOH MI and UN agencies.

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For additional information, please contact:

Kemal Goshliyev, Reproductive Health NPO
goshliyev@unfpa.org

Ene Tuyliyeva, Advocacy Communication Associate
tuyliyeva@unfpa.org

Tel: 488325
Web: www.turkmenistan.unfpa.org www.tm.one.un.org