WASHINGTON, March 31, 2010 – The Russia Health Reform Implementation Project (HRIP) was named one of the 12 winners in the World Bank’s third annual ‘Improving the Lives of People in Europe and Central Asia’ 2010 competition.
“The results achieved in the cause of implementation of the World Bank supported HRIP project in the Chuvash Republic and Voronezh Oblast demonstrated the ability to meet effectively the challenges facing the priority national project "Health", - said Vladimir Starodubov, the former Deputy Health Minister.
The purpose of the Project was to enable the Government to speed up vital reforms of its health system. Over the 2003-2009 period, HRIP supported new approaches for restructuring health service delivery and financing in the Chuvash Republic and Voronezh Oblast, for later replication in other regions of the country. In the pilot regions, HRIP financed the development of new models for organizing the delivery of health services, funded improvements in infrastructure, medical equipment, information systems and training of personnel, and assisted in the development of quality assurance systems and new provider payment mechanisms to encourage improvements in the delivery of primary health care services.
Project design enabled HRIP to be fully embedded to the reform programs implemented by the regions and played a catalytic role.
“Although many countries in the Europe and Central Asia region enjoyed very strong growth and higher living standards throughout the past decade, the global financial and economic crisis has hit this region the hardest,” said Philippe Le Houérou, World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia. “But the winners of the 2010 ‘Improving the Lives of People in Europe and Central Asia’ competition show how innovative projects that improve the daily lives of people in the region despite the harmful effects of the recent financial turmoil on country economies.”
Le Houérou also emphasized that “the winners demonstrate real results, including job growth, establishment of small businesses and improved enterprise access to financing, improved health care and health protection and rehabilitated water and irrigation systems that have increased crop yields, just to name a few. These innovative projects and programs also show that a continuous partnership with the World Bank can leverage the effects of economic downturn and demonstrate a real positive impact on the ground.”
The winners of this year’s competition are (listed in an alphabetical order by country):
- Armenia Rural Enterprise and Small Scale Commercial Agriculture Development Project Armenia Lifeline Road Improvement Project
- Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project
- Bulgaria Policy Notes
- Georgia Joint Needs Assessment, Donors Conference, and Progress Report
- Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, and Tajikistan Food Crisis Response Projects
- Latvia Safety Net and Social Reform Special Development Policy Loan
- Macedonia Real Estate Cadastre and Registration
- Russia Health Reform Implementation Project
- Tajikistan Community Agriculture and Watershed Management Project
- Turkey - Support to the Turkey Health Transformation Program
- Ukraine Programmatic Financial Rehabilitation Development Policy Loan
The third annual celebration of results to recognize the winners will take place on June 3, 2010, in Washington, DC.
