Estonia To Send New Health Care Expert to Afghanistan’s Helmand Province
30.06.2010
Nr 224 – E
In July the Foreign Ministry will send a new health care expert to Helmand Province in Afghanistan to co-ordinate Estonia’s development co-operation. Estonia’s new health care expert Priit Paju will replace Anu Raisma, who was been working in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province since 2009.
Afghanistan is one of the primary partners for Estonian development co-operation, and within Estonia’s aid projects health care is a top priority. According to Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, Estonia’s activities in the health care sector are truly helping to improve the lives of Afghans. “As a result of the work of our health care expert, we have been able to bring great progress to the development of medical aid in Helmand,” stated the foreign minister. “For example, Estonia has initiated supplementary training for health care workers in Helmand Province as well as fist aid training for adults. We are also working on establishing a training centre in Helmand Province and we support a school for nurses and midwives,” said Paet, talking about the Estonian health care projects in Afghanistan. Estonia has also supported the increase in medical care capabilities and quality at the central hospital of Helmand Province.
Foreign Minister Paet stated that there is still much to do in Helmand’s health care sector. “The work and help of the Estonian health care expert is highly valued and awaited by his or her Afghan colleagues,” said Paet. “In Helmand Province, which has a population comparable to that of Estonia, there are only slightly more than 1300 people in the health care sector and fewer than 100 of them are doctors,” Paet added.
The primary responsibility of the Estonian health care expert is co-ordinating the building up of Helmand Province’s network of medical establishments, emergency medical service, and other elements of the health care sector. Member of NPO Mondo Priit Paju has long-time experience in crisis areas and has participated in missions to various crisis regions, such as Pakistan and Haiti, under the auspices of the Estonian Rescue Team.
According to Estonia’s new health care expert Priit Paju, in a short time Estonia has become a considerable actor on the international rescue and crisis regulation landscape. “Through various humanitarian and rescue missions, we have proven ourselves to our partner countries as well. Through development co-operation in Afghanistan, we also get to help people who have needed it for years,” Paju said of NPO Mondo and the Estonian Foreign Ministry’s joint activities in Afghanistan.
Since March 2008, an Estonian health care expert has been working in the city of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province as part of the UK-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). The expert implements Estonia’s development co-operation projects, organizes the implementation of health care projects of other sponsors, and consults with Helmand’s provincial government about developing the health care system. Prior to March 2009 the Estonian health care expert in Afghanistan was Argo Parts. Anu Raisma will be filling the role until July of this year.
There are about 1.4 million people living in Helmand Province and fewer than 100 doctors. There are medical aid stations in the larger centrums of the region such as Musa Oala, Kajaki, Sangin and Naw Zad, but these are merely primary health care stations, and many of them lack a fully trained doctor.
Afghanistan is one of the five poorest countries on earth and its human development statistics are among the world’s lowest. A large part of the country’s population lives in extreme poverty, especially women and children. Close to 70% of the people are illiterate and 46% of Afghan children lack access to education.
