• Increase access to quality primary healthcare services in Shchuche district.
• Increase health promotion and prevention with special focus on reproductive health and adolescence health. Increase the knowledge of patients and healthcare providers about domestic violence.
• Increase the level of support to the local community provided by Kurgan and Shchuche district hospitals and collaborating local community organizations such as the Shchuche Red Cross.
• Strengthen physician and nurse knowledge of management techniques and evidence-based practices.

• The Kurgan partners were awarded a sustainability grant in November 2004 to conduct a best practice training conference on prenatal care, evidence-based delivery, and neonatal care for practitioners throughout the Kurgan Oblast. The conference was held February 25-26, 2004 and was attended by over 150 practitioners (the agenda and event report may be found here).
  

Health Promotion and Education

• Through focus group discussions, NIS partners identified youth/teen issues as the most important reason to bring agencies together to develop community-oriented health programs.
• Both Kurgan Maternity Hospital #1 (KMH) and Shchuche District Hospital (SDH) provided ongoing educational programs to secondary school students on reproductive health. KMH was particularly involved in providing more advanced training to students attending a specialized school.
• Medical professionals from KMH and SDH routinely conducted lectures on STD prevention for adults and secondary students in their respective communities.
• The Kurgan partners organized over 158 health promotion and disease prevention activities in 2003 that reached over 3,500 citizens. Topics included early detection of breast cancer, substance abuse prevention, reproductive health education, and maternal and child health care.

Domestic Violence

• Partners developed a domestic violence program in Kurgan involving members of the Kurgan Police, the organization "Women Scholars," social services and the news media.
• Seminars on domestic violence were conducted for 1,000 high school students.
• The Women Scholars organization in Kurgan organized a symposium on women's issues. Russian partners participated and American partners submitted several articles for publication.
• The 3rd Annual Kurgan Domestic Violence Conference was conducted in Kurgan in April 2002 and conference materials were distributed to medical, social, and administrative personnel in Kurgan, Shchuche and the Kurgan Oblast.

Community Mobilization and Support

• The two Learning Resource Centers (LRC) established in-house resource libraries, and the Kurgan LRC broadened its objectives to serve as a community education center.
• Twenty-four community stakeholders participated in the AIHA sponsored four-day community development workshop, Resolving Public Health Problems Through Community Involvement, in January, 2002. Participants included the mayor, Vice-Chairman of the town Council, and two journalists from the Loval radio station and newspaper. Participants developed plans for new programs and/or changed business practices as part of the workshop. Within the year, a multidisciplinary team to address youth programs and a breastfeeding media campaign were implemented. The Appleton partners have been very involved in this type of community development with their NIS partners and have focused many of their exchanges on follow-up.
• One of the workshop participants using the skills developed at the workshop applied for a grant from the Regional administration and got funding that will allow up to 100 Rayon children to participate in a three-day activist summer camp.
• Members of the Shchuche community implemented several after-school programs such as job counseling, parental education and counseling, and sports activities for at-risk youth. A group of active community members created programs based on strategic planning and problem-solving methods that they learned at the community development workshop conducted in Shchuche in January 2002.
• The Shchuche Red Cross developed and submitted a workplan to the rayon (district) administration, a significant step forward in the process of establishing a viable organization.
• The Shchuche Learning Resource Centers held open houses in May and in October 2002. The events were conducted to provide information regarding LRC objectives and resources to the community. Over 30 people attended each of the events.

Primary Care Services

• Partners opened a primary healthcare clinic in Shchuche in December 2001. The clinic was the first of its kind in Shchuche district and in Kurgan Oblast. Two family physicians from the Shchuche PHC center completed the training in family medicine at Chelyabinsk Medical Academy in October 2002. The clinic provided services to 8,300 adults in its catchment area and served as a model for replication and training within the Oblast. Unfortunately the two physicians trained by the partnership in primary health care both left the area and the Center now provides standard policlinic services.
• Customs clearance was completed in September 2002 for two shipments from Carelift International and for a shipment from the Appleton Rotary Club. Thus far, the US partners have donated and shipped medical equipment and primary care supplies worth more than $250,000.
• The chief of Kurgan Oblast health administration expressed his support in replication of the primary healthcare and nursing programs model that have been created in Shchuche.

Prenatal Care and Neonatal Resuscitation

• In November 2002, Shchuche hospital conducted a one-day breastfeeding workshop for all district feldsher stations staff and for a number of neighboring district feldshers. Breastfeeding classes for hundreds of women have been conducted the past 4 years.
• The Kurgan Maternity Hospital was named a WHO baby friendly hospital in 2003. The hospital and birthing house personnel are trained in neonatal resuscitation and allow "rooming in" post delivery.
• The Maternity Hospital conducts parenting classes, prenatal care classes, and breastfeeding classes.