Mobilizing Action Against Corruption (MAAC) and American University of Armenia (AUA) signed a grant agreement to monitor the Child Health State Certificate program introduced by the Ministry of Health of Armenia in January 2011.
The Center for Health Services Research and Development of the American University of Armenia will implement the grant project to assess the efficiency of the Ministry of Health’s program which seeks to reduce informal payments at healthcare facilities for in-patient care of children under the age of 7. The assessment will comprise both quantitative national baseline and mid-term surveys and qualitative interviews with the patients’ parents, as well as focus groups within the healthcare institutions.
The nationwide evaluation of the effectiveness of the Child Health State Certificate program will run from February till August 2011. The findings of the evaluation will serve as a basis for further Ministry policy making with respect to the program.
The Child Health State Certificate program by the Ministry of Health, which serves to guarantee parents free healthcare services in case a child is hospitalized, will be implemented in all healthcare facilities of Armenia. The program will include a communication campaign to increase population awareness of free medical services for children under 7 and will implement a new financing mechanism according to which healthcare providers will be reimbursed for providing hospital care to children.