Health community celebrates achievements of USAID health program

TIRANA, Oct 14 – The results of a six-year effort to develop Albania’s primary health care system were presented to over 120 experts, practitioners, and government officials from five Albanian regions at a conference held Wednesday in Tirana.
Today, all Albanians from infants to adults, in remote villages and in cities, have access to a standard package of quality primary health care services.
Over the past six years USAID/Albania has worked to strengthen Albania’s health reform efforts to create a fully integrated primary health care system that responds to both the basic health needs of the population and major public health threats such as Pandemic Influenza and HIV/AIDS.
The program has had tremendous success. In partnership with Albania’s Ministry of Health and the Health Insurance Institute (HII), ProSh쯤etit has helped roll-out a package of reforms that involved the standardization of health care delivery, financing, and information systems.
Health centers across the Albania are using the new health information system developed and funded through the USAID health project, operate as financially autonomous bodies, and are staffed by doctors and nurses qualified to deliver a basic package of primary health care services.