History

CPHA involvement in contributing to the strengthening of primary and public health services in this region dates back several years. In mid-1999, CIDA engaged CPHA’s services to provide technical support to UNICEF/FRY. Through this short-term assignment, CPHA helped UNICEF/FRY improve its mapping of the results of a CIDA-funded maternal and child health project in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia & Montenegro) against the utilization of the Government of Canada’s financial contribution to this initiative. This mission provided CPHA the opportunity to make contact with the country’s public health community.

Later that same year, CIDA engaged CPHA, along with representatives from the Queen’s University Faculty of Medicine, to participate in a health sector reconnaissance mission to the UN-administered province of Kosovo. The objective was to define how Canada could contribute to the post-conflict reconstruction of the health sector. The mission team recommended that the Government of Canada focus its efforts on rehabilitating primary and secondary health care facilities, many of which were destroyed or badly damaged during the conflict, upgrading the knowledge and skills sets of health professionals and allied health practitioners, improve the quality of public health institutions and services, and strengthen civil society’s participation in health sector policy and programming discussions and decision-making.

In 2000, CPHA, with CIDA funding, launched the Continuing Education and Renewal of Public Health project. This two-year initiative contributed to revitalizing and strengthening the capacity of health professionals (particularly nurses, obstetricians, infection control and laboratory personnel) and institutions to design and deliver effective health policies and programs, provided good quality training in health sciences, increased access to information on best practices in public health for health professionals and public health students, strengthened linkages and collaboration among stakeholders and actors within the public health arena in Kosovo, and strengthened the participation of civil society in the elaboration of public health policy and programs. This included the reconstruction of hospitals in Pristina and Prizren, as well as the launching in 2001 of the Public Health Association of Kosovo.

 

The present project builds on the activities and achievements of the CIDA-funded Strengthening Essential Public Health Functions in the Balkans project, an initiative also managed by CPHA. This regional project took place in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and Albania between December 2001 and April 2005. Its aim was to improve the health of people living in the Balkan countries by strengthening the capacity of the public health systems both at the country and regional levels to respond effectively to priority health needs through supporting and facilitating local, national and regional responses to public health issues. The project reinforced the institutional capacity of Institutes of Public Health in these locations to provide training and deliver effective programs in the fields of health promotion, health information systems, and essential public health functions. The project also supported several important health surveys, among these the first-ever surveys on smoking prevalence and knowledge and attitudes about tobacco products among youth, using an internationally-approved survey methodology. The role of civil society organizations in public health advocacy and action was also enhanced, with the creation of new public health associations in the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro, as well as continued support to the Public Health Association of Kosovo.