The American International Health Alliance (AIHA) and the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) Announce a Grants Competition

NIS Health Partnerships Program/Republic of Armenia

Date Issued: April 20, 1999
Closing Date and Time: June 2, 1999 12:00 Noon (EDT)

The announcement below is excerpted from a solicitation by AIHA for  new
partnerships in the Republic of Armenia.  Separate announcements were
previously disseminated for new partnerships in West NIS, Central Asia, the
Russian Federation, and the Republic of Georgia.  Additional partnerships
in Azerbaijan will be established through a subsequent solicitation.

For further information, please see the full-text of these solicitations,
which are available at:

        http://www.aiha.com/english/partners/newpartn/index.htm

Questions regarding this solicitation should be directed via e-mail to
[log in to unmask] or via fax at (202) 789-1277, Attention: NISSOLICIT.

I.  Summary

AIHA and USAID are pleased to announce a grants competition in support of
establishing new partnerships between US health-related institutions and
their counterparts in the New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet
Union, as part of the NIS Health Partnerships Program.  AIHA is soliciting
applications from qualified US health-related institutions willing to
devote substantial in-kind resources, mainly in the form of human resources
committed on a volunteer basis, to a 3 to 4-year partnership with
counterparts in the Caucasus region, in accordance with the strategic
direction of USAID.  Through this solicitation AIHA will award up to four
partnerships in the Republic of Armenia.  Three of these new partnerships
will focus on improving primary care through the development of
community-based models that show meaningful results locally and are
replicable nationally. One partnership will address the development of a
health management education program.  Additional partnerships in Azerbaijan
will be established through a subsequent solicitation.

Each of the partnerships is described in more detail below.

Armavir Region

Type of Partnership:
Community-Based Primary Health Care

Proposed NIS partner:
Regional Health Administration

Partnership Focus:      The Armavir partnership will focus on enhancement of
primary health care services through the development of primary health care
both in the regional center Armavir and also through the development of
referral networks in the districts of the region. Armavir, the regional
capital is located approximately a 30 minutes drive from Yerevan, the
nation's capital. The region has a population of 313,000 inhabitants, of
which about 111,000 live in urban and about 202,000 live in rural areas.
The traditional economy of the region is agriculture and cattle breeding.
The two major cities of Armavir are the regional center Armavir, and
Echmiatsin.

Initial workplan activities will be directed toward developing local
community involvement, conducting a needs assessment, and building
consensus around community issues and problems to be addressed.  The
partnership will then focus on the development of quality services to meet
these community needs and improve access to services with an emphasis on
disease prevention and health promotion.  The partnerships are also
expected to develop programs for the retraining of health professionals in
support of the primary care sites and other donor efforts that promote
primary care.  The results of the partnerships including the healthy
community's process of community development and primary care practice and
administrative guidelines will be disseminated nationally with the support
of the Ministry of Health.

Gegarkunik Region

Type of Partnership:
Community-Based Primary Health Care

Proposed NIS Partner:
Regional Health Administration

Partnership Focus:      The Gegarkunik partnership will focus on enhancement of
primary health care services through the development of primary health care
both in the regional center Sevan and also through the development of
referral networks in the districts of the region. Sevan, the regional
capital, is located approximately a 2.5 hour drive from Yerevan, the
nation's capital. The region is a mountainous area surrounding Lake Sevan.
The region has a population of 268,000 inhabitants, of which about 101,000
live in urban, and about 167,000 live in rural areas. The traditional
economy of the region is agriculture, cattle breeding and tourism. The
major cities of Gegarkunik region are the regional center Sevan, Giavar,
Martuni, and Vardenis.

Initial workplan activities will be directed toward developing local
community involvement, conducting a needs assessment, and building
consensus around community issues and problems to be addressed. The
partnership will focus on the development of quality services to meet these
community needs and improve access to services with an emphasis on disease
prevention and health promotion. The partnerships are also expected to
develop programs for the retraining of health professionals in support of
the primary care sites and other donor efforts that promote primary care.
The results of the partnerships including the healthy community's process
of community development and primary care practice and administrative
guidelines will be disseminated nationally with the support of the Ministry
of Health.

Lori Region

Type of Partnership:
Community-Based Primary Health Care

Proposed NIS Partner:
Regional Health Administration

Focus of Partnership: The Lori partnership will focus on enhancement of
primary health care services in an urban setting through the development of
primary health care in one of the districts of the regional center
Vanadzor. Referral networks will be also developed with other districts of
the city and the region. Vanadzor, the regional capital and the second
largest city in Armenia, is located approximately a 3-4 hour drive to the
north from Yerevan, the nation's capital. Lori is an industrial region with
population of 385,000 inhabitants, of which about 259,000 live in urban,
and about 126,000 live in rural areas. The major cities of Lori region are
the regional center Vanadzor, Alaverdi, Stepanavan and Spitak. Spitak and
Vanadzor were among the places most severely hit by the 1989 earthquake.

Initial workplan activities will be directed toward developing local
community involvement, conducting a needs assessment, and building
consensus around community issues and problems to be addressed. The
partnership will focus on the development of quality services to meet these
community needs and improve access to services with an emphasis on disease
prevention and health promotion. The partnerships are also expected to
develop programs for the retraining of health professionals in support of
the primary care sites and other donor efforts that promote primary care.
The results of the partnerships including the healthy community's process
of community development and primary care practice and administrative
guidelines will be disseminated nationally with the support of the Ministry
of Health.

Yerevan, Armenia

Type of Partnership:
Health Management Education

Proposed NIS Partner:
National Institute of Health

Focus of Partnership:  AIHA will develop and support a partnership with
Armenia's National Institute of Health (NIH) in Yerevan. The AIHA
partnership is intended to support the development of the NIH's programs in
health services management and health policy development and
administration. The NIH partnership will be expanded in years two and three
to include the development of the graduate/undergraduate programs in health
administration.  The long-term goal of the partnership is the creation of
an ongoing training capacity in health services management and health
policy development and administration.

Applicants with demonstrated experience in working closely with the
practitioner community, providing practical, short-courses, in-service
training and/or with expertise in establishing new programs or schools are
encouraged to apply.



For further information, please see the full-text of the solicitation,
which is available at:

        http://www.aiha.com/english/partners/newpartn/solicit.htm

Questions regarding this solicitation should be directed via e-mail to
[log in to unmask] or via fax at (202) 789-1277, Attention: NISSOLICIT.