Final report : Feed the Children (FTC) : grant #NIS-2022-00-35 -- September 23, 1994-December 30, 1996

The project was implemented jointly by Feed the Children (FTC), a U.S. PVO, and The Healthy Family (THF), a Russian PVO, under World Learning"s PVO/New Independent States project. FTC and THF have made considerable progress during the past year in strengthening the organizational structure of THF, improving neonatal care, developing an outreach consultation and referral network, and providing leadership in regional postgraduate education of neonatologists and health care workers. The goal of THF is "to improve and expand the delivery of pre-natal and post-natal primary health care services to women and children". Both FTC and THF have sought to address maternal child health (MCH) issues through programs that obtained financial and material support to upgrade medical facilities and staff skills and through information and physician exchange programs to improve MCH diagnoses and treatments. A clear improvement in the health of women and children in the Sverdlovsk Oblast has been demonstrated by a drop in infant mortality which is directly related to the teaching of neonatal resuscitation skills to health providers in the region. Much of the credit must be given to medical professionals from the University of Utah Medical Center who provided excellent training programs that were well adapted to the needs of the Sverdlovsk Medical Community. THF"s capacity to coordinate and manage programs has improved notably over the past year with its participation in the training and other programs. One such successful subproject has been the translation and publishing of Dr. Wennberg"s Neonatal Resuscitation Handbook, which will be distributed by THF in March 1997. In addition, two regional conferences and a highly successful public awareness campaign were developed and implemented by THF. THF"s viability will depend on continued availability of funding for its activities and access to those sources of funding. A proposal has already been submitted to FTC/Canada to continue support to THF, including staff and board training, replication of THF in Kurgan and Kazan, and strengthening of THF"s membership and donor base. THF is very interested in hiring full time staff to assist in fundraising. FTC will continue to provide input to THF as it seeks new resources. The training programs and information dissemination carried out under the grant have had a positive impact on a large segment of the medical community and have led to the introduction of new medical treatment protocols, life saving methods, campaigns against alcoholism and smoking, and a standardized training format for nurses attending the Upgrading Institute. These and other sustainable interventions have moved the Russian health system encountered in Yekaterinburg in 1994 ahead several decades. Continued physician exchange programs that will be supported through the Latter Day Saints in Utah, ongoing contact with FTC, and new funding initiatives will continue to influence the medical community in Yekaterinburg. (Author abstract, modified)