17.07.2012

Meeting Between Minister of Health and Swiss Cooperation’s Deputy Director Ensures Further Close Collaboration

Swiss Cooperation’s Deputy Country Director for Albania, Anne Savary, and the Minister of Health, Vangjel Tavo, had an introductory meeting to ensure further collaboration between the two institutions.

Tueday, 17 July 2012, Tirana – Swiss Cooperation’s Deputy Country Director, Anne Savary, met with the newly-appointed Minister of Health, Vangjel Tavo, to ensure further collaboration and understanding between the two institutions. During this courtesy meeting both parties exchanged information and ideas about strengthening common working projects, in particular, the Professional Development System, which is now on its second phase.

From her side, Ms. Savary, gave a summary of Swiss Cooperation’s health portfolio including programmes and projects that have been funded and implemented by this office in the last 15 years of work in Albania. She mentioned the continuing education programme and the summer school for health management and public health which currently are essential interventions of the Swiss Cooperation in the health sector.

Ms. Savary also mentioned an upcoming health assessment by the Swiss Cooperation that will capitalise on the Swiss experience so far and identify health sector needs in order to determine appropriate programmes and future interventions that may potentially become part of the new Swiss Cooperation’s strategy in Albania.

Representatives of the Professional Development System project briefed the Minister on the main pillars of this project and mentioned its results up to now as well as challenges the project is facing such as decentralisation of services closer to frontline health professionals. In particular they emphasised the need to strengthen the peripheral part of the continuing medical education in order to better support frontline primary health professionals – especially those in remote and rural areas. To this end, the project will decentralise the functions of the National Centre for Continuing Education (NCCE) in order to accredit training programmes and strengthen institutional capacity at regional hospital level.

Minister Tavo ensured that all necessary measures will be taken for the purpose of establishing units at regional hospitals that will follow up and monitor the process of accrediting training programmes. At the meeting both parties also talked about creating further opportunities for collaboration in the future.