FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 1996

    Health Care Alliance/USAID Seek US Health Care Institutions for
               Partnership Project in Bosnia-Herzegovina

WASHINGTON, DC  --  The American International Health Alliance,
Inc. (AIHA) and the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) announce the planned expansion of their health
care partnership program with a new partnership in Tuzla, Bosnia-
Herzegovina.  AIHA is soliciting expressions of interest from
qualified US hospitals and health care institutions willing to
devote substantial in-kind resources, mainly in the form of human
resources committed on a volunteer basis, to a two-year partnership
with counterparts in Bosnia.

The new health care partnership will be part of an ongoing health
care development program financed through USAID and managed by AIHA
which includes forty partnerships in nine countries of Central and
Eastern Europe (CEE) and ten republics of the former Soviet Union.
AIHA partnerships have enabled American health care providers to
work with their colleagues abroad to address significant mortality
and morbidity issues, improve health care organizations and
introduce market-oriented solutions to health system delivery
problems.  The emphasis of the program is on professional exchanges
involving physicians, nurses, administrators and technicians.  AIHA
partnerships also collaborate with related ministries of health,
local and regional health systems administrations, and schools of
health sciences to ensure that critical areas of health education
and administration are adequately addressed at these higher
institutional levels, and that the capacity to carry out other
developmental assistance efforts is enhanced.

The new partnership in Bosnia is intended to further USAID~s
objective of promoting ethnic reconciliation and strengthening the
on-going peace process.  USAID and AIHA believe that the
partnership will reinforce the credibility of the new Muslim-Croat
Federation -- a cornerstone of the Dayton agreement -- by providing
tangible evidence that the Federation can serve local needs.

The Bosnia partnership will share certain goals with existing CEE
partnerships, namely improving medical and technological knowledge,
expanding the role of nursing, and enhancing institutional
management and financing skills to develop in the Bosnian
institution a capacity to sustain itself financially.  Moreover,
the partnership will develop community-based programs impacting the
populations served by the Bosnian partner institutions by, for
example, improving the delivery of primary care and strengthening
linkages between hospital and primary care practitioners.

According to USAID, the success of the Federation ultimately will
depend on ~the political will of local communities of Croats and
Bosniacs to devise the institutional means to begin
their own recovery.~  At a later stage of the partnership, AIHA
anticipates that the community-based programs will develop an
active multi-sector community participation that would encourage
local leaders to work together to determine local priorities and
implement community-based intervention strategies.

AIHA and USAID expect that the CEE partner will be located in
Tuzla, a city in north-eastern Bosnia where the U.S. military
presence is centered.  The hospital component of the partnership
may target critical medical/surgical procedures, emergency
medicine, or rehabilitation at Tuzla~s teaching hospital in
addition to management training and development.  The focus of the
partnership~s community outreach component will depend upon the
priorities of the Bosnian partners.

AIHA/USAID is not the principal funding source for partnership
activities, but rather supplements the voluntary and in-kind
contributions of the partners and their respective communities in
the US and abroad.  Existing AIHA partnerships have leveraged
nearly three dollars of voluntary support for every US government
dollar expended.  AIHA/USAID funds will mainly support travel and
other costs essential in establishing and realizing the full
potential of a partnership program, including communication and
interaction with other partnerships.  AIHA staff in Washington, DC
and in Europe will provide logistical support and assist in
monitoring the progress of the partnership.

Interested US partners must have the willingness and capacity to
meet the specific health care delivery needs described above, and
must satisfy the following criteria:

*     Be institution-based -- e.g., a hospital or group of
      hospitals; health care planning consortium sponsoring a
      healthy communities project; other institutions engaged in the
      implementation and/or the evaluation of a healthy communities
      project.  If a group of institutions is involved, a lead
      institution must be designated;

*     Be supported by the institution~s senior leadership and Board
      and clearly identify an overall partnership coordinator;

*     Make a substantial voluntary commitment to the partnership
      through a significant contribution of resources, including
      human resources;

*     Actively involve the local community served by the US
      partners, including any significant emigre community that may
      be present;

*     Share information openly and participate fully in AIHA~s
      efforts to exchange information with other US/CEE and US/NIS
      partnerships through the AIHA Partnership Clearinghouse and
      dissemination conferences and seminars;

*     Adhere to AIHA~s rigorous objective-setting and results-
      oriented approach, including:

      (a)  Enter into a formal Memorandum of Understanding
           (MOU) and work within the overall coordination and
           guidance of AIHA and its designated program
           coordinator;

      (b)  Develop demonstration-type interventions with
           significant training components and capacity for
           replication;

      (c)  Establish mechanisms (such as training programs and
           conferences) for the diffusion of partnership
           successes; and

      (d)  Participate in regular program evaluations to
           assess partnership progress and achievements.

Hospitals or health care institutions wishing to be considered for
participation in the new Bosnia partnership should send a short
statement (10 pages maximum) by JUNE 15, 1996 detailing their
interest and ability to enter into a collaborative relationship
with a Bosnian partner under the AIHA model.  The statement should
describe the institution~s commitment to the partnership program,
the human and material resources it will devote to a partnership,
and specific strengths of the institution that enhance its ability
to address the needs of the Bosnian partner.  Working with USAID
and an outside advisory panel, AIHA will select the institution or
group of institutions which best match the needs of the Bosnian
partner, best fulfill the criteria listed above, and offer the
greatest potential for sustaining a partnership beyond the
availability of AIHA funding.

Statements should be directed to :

      Mr. Donn Rubin
      Program Director, Central & Eastern Europe
      American International Health Alliance, Inc.
      1212 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 750
      Washington, DC 20005

For additional information contact Mr. Rubin, or Elizabeth Schroth,
Program Analyst.
Telephone: (202) 789-1136; Facsimile: (202) 789-1277.

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