Public Health Programme

SDC is the main bilateral donor in the sector and has developed an excellent collaboration with the Ministry of Health. SDC will continue to focus its intervention on two distinct sub-sectors:

• Mother and Child Health        
• Mental Health

Mother and child health: Due to insufficient human and material resources Moldovan hospitals are limited in providing qualitative services to its population. SDC supports the reforms of the national health referral system by endowing hospitals with today’s medical equipment and by fostering the capacities of the municipal and rayon hospitals in the country to better respond to the needs of Moldovan mothers, children and young families.

SDC support to the national ante- and perinatal health care system starts at the stage of planning of parenthood and ensuring a healthy pregnancy to reduce pregnancy risks as well as mother and child mortality. Together with modern equipment quality protocols and referral mechanisms are put in place that ensure safe deliveries even for difficult cases. Finally, the survival of children is enhanced by establishing emergency care services specialized for children. Here, SDC capitalizes on its experience acquired in Romania where it supported the development of the national emergency care system. The final result is an optimal functioning of the national health referral system assuring that patients are treated at the appropriate health institution with appropriate care.

Mental health: SDC assists the country in its reform of the mental health care system which relies heavily on expensive in-patient care, keeping patients within hospital institutions. The aim is to implement new standards with a focus on out-patient approaches such as community based mental health care services. The final result is a national mental health care system that aims to keep people with mental troubles, to the extent possible, within their social environment.

Water and Sanitation Programme

SDC supports the government in its efforts to provide the Moldovan population with adequate drinking water. To do so, SDC builds on its past successes in the sector by continuing to build decentralized drinking water and sanitation systems for rural settlements that utilize water resources coming from local springs, which are neither polluted nor endangered by human actions. Sanitary program aspects (dry toilets, waste water management) will play a central part in SDC’s program underlining the crucial link between quality drinking water and improved health conditions.

Due to its limited financial resources, SDC will promote its model for national replication and will collaborate with other international donors in the sector to expedite the nationwide access to quality drinking water.

Swiss Regional Anti-trafficking Initiative

Facilitate the implementation of standardized repatriation procedures between Moldova, including Transnistria, and Ukraine. Improving systems of protection and reintegrating children into families or protective environment. Development of National and Trans-national Referral Mechanisms to establish effective cooperation in anti-trafficking between countries in South-Eastern Europe.