Overall goal of the Turkmenistan program is to upgrade training capabilities of partner Turkmen institutions in family medicine and health management. Specific objectives include:

• To improve the quality of health management curricula for health professions.
• To upgrade national training capabilities in health management and finance.
• To provide access to online medical resources and Internet-based communication tools through a Learning Recourse Center (LRC) at the Ministry of Health.

• A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between AIHA and Ministry of Health and Medical Industry (MOHMI) in March, which outlined AIHA program in Turkmenistan encompassing family medicine, women’s health, health management, as well as disease prevention and health promotion.

Health Management

• Five Turkmen government policymakers visited Canada and the US on a health insurance study tour in September 2004. The tour was organized in response to a request from the Turkmen government, which is charged with the introduction of obligatory health insurance by 2006.
• AIHA organized a series of health management workshops in September 2004, January 2005, and May 2005, for the faculty of the Health Management Training Center at Turkmen State Medical School. Faculty representing the Kazakh School of Public Health, the School of Health Care Management at the American University of Armenia, and the University of Central Florida led the workshops.

Family Medicine

• In September 2004, a US volunteer obstetrician/gynecologist spent a month in Ashgabat assessing and revising women's health modules currently delivered at the Family Medicine Training Center.
• In November 2004, nine health administrators and physicians from the First and Second FMTCs visited Almaty Women's Health Center and the Demeu Community Health Center in Astana during their study tour to Kazakhstan.
• In April 2005, four Turkmen faculty representing both FMTCs attended a two- week training in evidence-based medicine at the Almaty Postgraduate Institute.