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May, 2009

Practical Achievements of the Fund for Sustainable Development: a series of projects under the Community Development Support Program are nearing completion in the city of Zima, Irkutsk Oblast

In Zima, Irkutsk Oblast, a group of projects is being implemented with support from the Fund for Sustainable Development (FSD), one of which is based in the City Hospital.

The project “Healthy Family - Healthy Child – Healthy Nation” was launched in Zima in September 2008 as part of the Community Development Support Program (CDSP) that is being carried out by FSD with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) amounting to 550,000 rubles awarded on a competitive basis and another 410,000 rubles provided by the local municipality.

The main goal of the project is to improve the reproductive health of women living in Zima. Such questions as how to build family relations and how many children to have sooner or later face almost every woman. The project offered family planning help to women of different ages and from different social categories, with much emphasis placed on youth.

It is no secret that during recent years, sex has been playing a growing role in the lives of young people, however, their awareness about contraception remains quite low. As a result, doctors are compelled to perform abortions on minors or deliver babies from adolescent mothers.

Under the project, gynecologists spoke to high school students of all the city schools. The reproductive health of girls of 14-16 years of age was monitored. According to the head of the gynecological department of the city hospital, Irina Konstantinova, a total of 400 girls were examined and in some health problems were found. Thanks to early diagnosis, it will be easier to restore their health with the help of the doctors from the city hospital. Starting from May 1, 2009, it has become much easier to see a specialist, since a children’s gynecologist will be receiving patients at the branch of the local children’s outpatient clinic.

Project activities include a large amount of work with women of fertile age; as of present, gynecologists have conducted educational lectures in 20 organizations of the city that were attended both by women and men, with the latter asking many questions.

Under the “Healthy Family - Healthy Child – Healthy Nation” project, two family planning rooms were opened at the gynecological department of the hospital, to which women come for information and advice and some of them are accompanied by their husbands.

Grant funds were also used for upgrading the existing ultrasonic scanning device with a Doppler system, which is used for examining over 200 women a month with better quality results. For example, if before fetal heartbeats could only be registered with the help of s stethoscope, a small wooden pipe placed on the stomach of the expectant mother, today a specialist operating the ultrasonic scanning device can see the blood flow in the blood vessels and correctly evaluate the condition of the fetus.

After a video system was acquired by the project, vide spots devoted to the use of contraceptives, family planning and the harm of abortions are being shown in the gynecological department of the hospital. Starting from the first day of the project, contraceptives are being handed out free to unprotected women – as of today, 112 of such women have been assisted and this effort is being continued.

Despite the fact that the project is being carried out in the city for less than one year, doctors have already noted a number or positive outcomes. Thus, the abortion indicator, which in every country is a reflection of the social development of society, is less than 10 per 1,000 women of fertile age in some European countries. In Zima, in 2007 this figure was 72 per 1,000, while in 2008 it lowered to 59 per 1,000 thanks, to a large extent, to the project. The results of the first quarter of 2009 show that the number of abortions dropped by 22%, however, local doctors do not consider this a limit, since in April they observed a tendency toward a further reduction of this indicator.

Irina Konstantinova summarizes: “Family planning is now viewed not only as a means of improving mother and child health, but also as one of human rights. I believe that responsible behavior of a man and woman should become the basis of their life together. The project is doing a lot to help people understand this.”