Within the framework of this ceremony, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan signed new projects on health to improve access to treatment for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and enhance national capacity for clinical laboratory diagnosis.

In particular, two joint projects have been launched to support national efforts to strengthen the country's health system:

The project “Provision of medicines necessary for prevention and treatment of noncommunicable diseases and for maternal and child health in Turkmenistan for 2023-2024”, which is aimed at strengthening the national health system capacities to control the noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), rare diseases and improve maternal and newborn health in Turkmenistan. The project will ensure access to free, good quality, available, affordable medicines across the country through the provision of medicines for treatment of NCDs and other diseases. This project will continue providing quality and affordable medicines initiated by the first NCD project between UNDP and MoHMI for 2020-2021. Notably, the project includes:1) the provision of medicines for rare and orphan diseases which are very costly, making the patients with the rare and orphan diseases most vulnerable to financial hardships; 2) provision of essential medicines for NCD patients, including the most vulnerable people; 3) contribute to women’s health by providing medicines for pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal period;
The project “Strengthening clinical laboratory services in Turkmenistan in 2023-2024” will focus on strengthening the national health system’s capacity for clinical laboratory diagnostics of diseases. The project will support health services to ensure availability, accessibility, reliability, and most-up-to-date laboratory investigations for accurate and timely diagnosis of the most common diseases, such as common infectious, non-infectious diseases, surgery, emergency cases, maternal and child health, and other. Important to note that the project will support laboratories of primary health care which serve most of the population. The availability of lab services at the PHC level in close proximity to the place of residence, reduces gender-related barriers and ensures equal access to a full range of lab investigations for women and girls, including lab investigations during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal period. The project will particularly help vulnerable people with access to lab services by reducing the cost of the services and the cost of transportation if such services are not available at PHC.

Both projects are fully funded by the Government of Turkmenistan with a total budget of around 78 million USD. The projects are expected to help the country make a significant contribution to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and the Sustainable Development Goals.

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