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.