HealthProm

HealthProm is an international development NGO working with overseas partners for dissemination of best practice in health and social care for vulnerable women and children in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Working through partnership projects the success of our shared projects depends crucially on our partners, which are healthcare administrations, training institutes and local NGOs.

All HealthProm’s project work is grounded in evidence-based practice. Our focus is in mother and child health, with priority given to prevention and early intervention. At the centre of this is safe childbirth as the point in the life cycle at which least expenditure can deliver most health gain. HealthProm has also developed partnership projects in infection control in maternity hospitals and child mental health, with the emphasis on prevention. HealthProm’s partnership projects fall into sectors in which good practice depends crucially on training, including continuing professional development, and co-operation between specialists: multidisciplinary team work is at the core of our partnership.

HealthProm's projects are always created with sustainability in mind. Special attention is paid to resources beyond training, to ensure that projects can be replicated in the future. Our current projects operate in Russia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Projects

Safe Childbirth Project in Azerbaijan.  HealthProm works to improve the health of women and their babies and to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity in the refugee communities in the country. Together with our Azerbaijani partner NGO "Family and Society" we trained more than 300 doctors and midwives in more than 6 regions in the country and provided necessary medical equipment to local hospitals in Sheki and Kizhi regions. The project is funded by GlaxoSmithKline and started in 2003.

Inter-regional League of Midwives of Russia.  HealthProm helped develop the first professional association for midwives for Russia, which acts as a voice for Russian midwives and advocates for a defined professional role for midwives based on international definitions and standards of midwifery education and practice.

Bologoye Hospital Project (Tver region, Russia).  HealthProm provided essential medical equipment and professional training for the Bologoye Hospital Maternity Department. Reducing Hospital Acquired Infection in Togliatti (Samara region, Russia) Together with Togliatti Municipal Health Department HealthProm worked to provide more effective microbiology laboratory services to improve the care of patients in Togliatti hospitals.

Newborn Care in Uzbekistan.  HealthProm has provided training of trainers in resuscitation of newborn babies in Uzbekistan in partnership with the Ministry of Health and UNICEF, which will roll out the training. Our trainers, from Lithuania and Latvia, are moving to provide training of trainers with the same partners in essential care of newborn babies. The Headley Trust and the British Embassy in Tashkent fund these trainings.

Children with Disability in Altai.  The aim of the project is to encourage the social inclusion and rehabilitation of disabled children in the Republic of Altai, one of the most remote regions in Siberia, through the creation of a sustainable model of community-based care and support to disabled children and their families. HealthProm and our Russian partner NGO Revival work together to establish two day care centres for disabled children and their families, which will provide community based care, support and, where necessary, rehabilitation service for disabled children and their families.

Early Detection of and Intervention in Depression in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia (2003-2004).  The project implemented by HealthProm was reported by midwife trainers to have made a huge difference in the way that they communicate with and respond to mothers. Approximately 50 healthcare professionals have been trained in which it became an integral part of the midwifery course at Oblast's Medical College. Finally, the project has raised awareness to perinatal depression, which commonly went undetected in the past.

Capacity Building for a More Effective Russian Midewifery Profession in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Russia (2002-2004).  HealthProm successfully integrated more effective techniques and skills into the Russian Midwifery League for a more effective midwifery profession. The information was bestowed to Russian midwives by a visit to the UK to observe the Royal College of Midwives. In addition, the Russian midwives now distribute a free booklet by HealthProm entitles "Your Pregnancy and Your Newborn Baby". Lastly, the programme has provided computers, fax machines and printers for the league including an anticipated website so all league members are aware the aims of the league and how to access information and obtain membership.

Infection Control in Togliatti, Russia (May 2002-May2004). HealthProm has improved diagnostic microbiology services and this patient care by improving pilot sites evidence base practice. This was completed by a systematic review of case notes and a successful one day conference in which partners in Togliatti gain continued support on an informal basis.

Learning Resource Centre in Tashkent and Uzbekistan (July 2000-May2004).  A self-sustaining centre was established that made information on good practice in mother and child health accessible and available to practitioners, trainers and students in Uzbekistan. The centre, by 2004, is self-sustaining.

Safe Childbirth in Baku, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan (2000-2003). Glaxo Wellcone and Headley Trusts funded projects to launch the development of new Safe Childbirth projects in the above countries. Sexual Health Education in Lviv, Western Ukraine (December 2000-June 2001) HealthProm and the Ukrainians NGO Salus ran a highly successful Sexual Health Education training programme in Lviv, working with tracher and doctors to raise awareness of sexual health issues.

Disabled Children's Project in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan (2000). Paediatrician and child psychotherapist training was given in care and mobilisation of disable children at the Samal Centre for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Children. This centre provides care, treatment and societal reintegration for 200 children with mental and physical disabilities who would be isolated, neglected and otherwise abandoned.

General Practitioner Training in Tengiz, Kazakhstan (October 2000). HealthProm was sponsored by Chevron Oil to carry out in March 2000 a one-week training programme for their GP's working at the field hospital at Tengiz to include the development and usage of clinical guidelines and consultation skills. Institue of Advanced Medical Education and Tashkent, Uzbekistan (October 2000) HealthProm was sponsored by The Health and Life Sciences Partnership (DflD) to supply a trainer to teach General Practitioner Trainers the World Health Organization (WHO) Safe Motherhood Protocols as part of the over DflD/World Bank Primary Health Development Project.

Cancer and Palliative Care in Ulyanovsk, Chelyabinsk, Russia and Kyiv, Ukraine (1997-2000).  Continual support for senior healthcare professionals was continually delivered through seminars and site visits. This eventually led to the successful organisational and logistical development of the local NGO 'Ulyanovsk Women's Health Centre'.