Project Overview

Healthcare System Strengthening in Armenia (HS-STAR) Project

 

Since independence, Armenia has made significant progress in modernizing its healthcare system and improving certain health indicators. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has served as a key partner in supporting the Government of Armenia (GOAM) in these efforts over the past 10 years.

To sustain and institutionalize these improvements, USAID is continuing to support health reform in Armenia through the three-year Healthcare System Strengthening in Armenia (HS-STAR) project. The goal of HS-STAR is to address key constraints in health financing, leadership and governance, human resources, and information systems that impede access to and delivery of quality health services. The project relies on an approach that simultaneously aims to strengthen the health system while improving the quality of care and increasing population knowledge in priority service areas, including maternal and child health, reproductive health and family planning, tuberculosis, non-communicable diseases and emergency medicine.

With an eye on sustainability, HS-STAR aims to significantly enhance local capacity to design, implement and monitor reform interventions. To that end, HS-STAR provides technical assistance to the GOAM across four key components:

1. Health Financing and Governance: Develop and sustain the capacity of the GOAM to properly manage available resources to meet existing health needs of the population and respond to emerging health challenges.
2. Quality Improvement: Increase the capacity of the GOAM to establish a system of sustainable quality improvement processes in priority service areas.
3. Tuberculosis: Build the capacity of the National Tuberculosis Program to implement priority activities that improve infection control measures and improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment for multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB cases.
4. Civil Society Engagement: Empower individuals and communities to exercise their health rights and responsibilities in an informed way and institutionalize these efforts through increased government ownership and innovative public-private partnerships.

Implemented by Abt Associates Inc., HS-STAR builds on the accomplishments and lessons learned from USAID’s Primary Health Care Reform (PHCR), NOVA 2 and NOVA projects. These projects focused on improving the quality and accessibility of primary health care, maternal and child health, reproductive health and family planning services in Armenia. HS-STAR, which runs from February 2011 through January 2014, hopes to enhance the achievements of these projects, while identifying innovative ways to institutionalize reforms.