In-country activities
District Health Councils as local multisectoral platform to address health issues
(within SDC funded Health Facilities Autonomy project in Kyrgyzstan)
Elvira Muratalieva, Embassy of Switzerland in the Kyrgyz Republic
In the framework of the Health Facility Autonomy project, a
District Health Council was established as multisectoral platform to
address regional health issues in each of the pilot areas in the
targeted Issyk-Kul oblast in 2016. The mission of the council is to
solve health related problems through multisectoral approach. The
council consists of local authorities representing the Kyrgyz Government
(line ministries) at district level, civil society organizations
including Village Health Committees, local municipalities and health
facilities.
Within the Health Facility Autonomy project, focusing on
strengthening autonomy of the health facilities and decentralizing the
health sector management, it is planned to shift the decision-making
power in the health sector from the central bodies to the districts. The
health governance systems at oblast and district levels are in great
need for support in terms of decision-making capacity and power.
Non-health sector members of the council receive additional support to
address population health related issues and effective way of solving
them.
The members of the District Health Councils are well aware that
nearly 70% of the health issues concern other sectors while only 30% are
addressed by the health sector. Having this in mind, the councils are
very active in identifying the health determinants of the districts and
in solving them in partnership with concerned structures. In this case,
the Village Health Committees play a key role to voice the needs of
population during the meetings of the councils.
As a result after two years, the District Health Councils are now
able to address several health related problems such as (i) support the
family doctors in terms of transportation to reach the remote villages
and serve the population; (ii) in 7 villages the medical points have
been renovated by local municipalities; (iii) special reproduction
health courses have been introduced at high schools; (iv) the drinking
water has been provided in 3 new settlements and the local
municipalities allocates budget for health determinants in their
budgets. In addition to this, the meetings of the District Health
Councils are used as a platform to increase accountability of the health
facilities, where they report on their work and local health statistics
on half-yearly basis.
The Ministry of Health is very much supportive of this initiative
and intends to scale up this experience to other regions. This will help
the Ministry to delegate some functions to the council and decentralize
the health sector management. At the same time, addressing health
issues through multisectoral approach is more effective and considerably
increases the health gains.