In November 2007, the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan with financial and technical support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Uzbekistan, continues the series of trainings on building up and upgrading skills of health care providers involved in emergency obstetric care.

This training is an integral part of the joint initiative of the Ministry of Health and UNFPA on strengthening the system of emergency obstetric care that started earlier this year in Andijan region and at this stage targets Jizzakh region, which is one of four UNFPA programme areas (other three include Andijan, Khorezm and Namangan regions).

The part of training courses is conducted in the Republic Prenatal Centre in Tashkent for 60 health care system representatives including staff of the managerial level, obstetricians-gynecologists and anaesthesiologists. The major stake of training is taking place in Jizzakh with participation of 112 doctors and midwives.

The training sessions are delivered by national trainers from Andijan and Tashkent prepared by the international consultant during the training of trainers (ToT) that was jointly organized by UNFPA and the Ministry of Health in July 2007.

The training aims at discussing ways of improving the management of obstetrical emergencies, which may help standardize the skills of practicing maternity care providers and review the importance of utilizing regional maternity care services. It is expected that all obstetric care specialists of Jizzakh region will be trained on new concepts in this area during this activity.

In addition, UNFPA and the Ministry of Health continue their effort on introduction of contraceptives logistics management information system (LMIS) in Jizzakh and discuss the perspectives for further cooperation on LMIS. 200 health care providers will be trained on LMIS issues in the framework of this ongoing effort.

UNFPA believes that this activity is a significant contribution in the efforts of the Ministry of Health on further strengthening maternal health in the country and achieving Millennium Development Goal 5.