PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

Project will be implemented by Burmese health and medical officials, with financial and technical assistance provided by USAID, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO). The project will achieve four specific outputs: (1) A total of 1,400 auxiliary midwives (AMW"s) and 7,418 community health workers (CHW"s) (in addition to those already scheduled by GSRUB) will be trained and equipped with basic drug kits and will be resupplied with oral rehydration salts. In addition, 1,000 traditional Burmese birth attendants (let-thes) will be trained in safe delivery methods, and training will be expanded into two divisions. Provisions will be made for in-service training of CHW"s/AMW"s on an average of one day per month. Orientation programs will be held for village leaders in the project areas. (2) Division/State training teams, consisting of 28 doctors and 12 public health nurses, will be trained and equipped. These teams will supervise township, Rural Health Center (RHC) and public health care workers, and will conduct training-of-trainers programs for use in in-service training of AMW"s/CHW"s. (3) Centers and subcenters, staffed by paraprofessionals, will receive in-service training and supplies to improve their support and referral capabilities. Sixty station hospitals, each staffed by a doctor, will be provided with additional supplies and equipment. (4) The monitoring and evaluation capabilities of the health service system will be increased by the training of 20 health information specialists. In addition, USAID will finance supplies and equipment to complement a new computer supplied by WHO. USAID will assign short-term advisors to assist in the implementation of the in-country training programs. In addition, some Burmese Department of Health personnel will be offered participant training. As a result of the project, 147 of the country"s 283 villages will have access to improved primary health care.