With the launching event in Peshkopi today the new ‘Health for All’ Project started officially. This event was attended by the Swiss Ambassador Christoph Graf, Minister of Health Ilir Beqaj, new mayor of Peshkopi Shukri Xhelili, health professionals and citizens.
“Today we begin a new cooperation to strengthen the health system in Albania. There is no doubt that health services in Albania in general deserve further improvements in terms of quality”, said Ambassador Graf. “The project will enhance professional capacities of health employees, introduce models of decentralized health services and promote health awareness among citizens. I look forward to seeing improved services, better primary health facilities, and healthier citizens, when this project ends”, continued Ambassador Graf.
In his speech Minister of Health Ilir Beqja emphasised that in the last two years the government has prioritised the improvement and restructuring of the primary health system and the joint project with the Swiss Embassy comes at the right time. “We are committed to radically reform primary health services”, he emphasised, adding that “We are doing this first through the free Basic Medical Check-Up programme but also through other interventions to relieve doctors as much as possible from the bureaucratic process and to provide them with more opportunity to conduct medicine and to be closer to their population”.
The new project will commit around 10 million Euros for the next four years to improve primary health care, enhance professional capacities of health employees, introduce models of decentralised health services, promote health awareness among citizens and address corruption in the health sector. It targets the areas of Dibër and Fier and it will aim to make primary health care more affordable and efficient, especially for marginalized groups. A previous Swiss project on continuing medical education for health professionals serves as a basis for the new project.
A key component of the Health for All Project will be health promotion and education among citizens. It builds on the philosophy that informed and health conscious citizens can both transform the health system for the better in requesting quality services and relieve it from unnecessary services by applying prevention mechanisms.
Depending on the results to be achieved in Dibër and Fier the project will aim to replicate best practices elsewhere in Albania. According to the Project Manager Joao Costa, ‘Health for All’ will bring expertise and training in the area of health management in order to improve the efficiency of primary clinics and health centres. Better qualified managers will be able to optimize the use of human, material and financial resources available, assuring larger coverage of the health needs of the population they serve.
Switzerland through this contribution and previous ones is one of the important donors assisting the health system in the country.
