For Immediate Release ~ January 30, 2008
Contact: Sarkis Kotanjian ~ 818-243-6222
Yerevan, Armenia – Armenia Fund is pleased to announce that Kashtarak’s village health clinic will undergo a complete renovation as part of the Armenia Fund’s Rural Development Program. The construction bid to find a contractor has already been announced and the work is expected to begin in the spring. The project will become a reality thanks to the efforts of the Armenia Fund - Netherlands affiliate, Armenie Fonds Nederland, who rallied the support of the local Armenian community and the Dutch government to improve the health care in Armenia’s border villages.
| The deteriorating ceiling is a safety hazard |
The Khashtarak village is one of the six villages in Armenia’s Tavush region included in the Rural Development Program pilot cluster. The renovated clinic will serve the needs of all these communities, providing the community members of the border villages with a viable alternative rather than traveling to the regional center of Ijevan in order to receive healthcare services.
The lack of efficient health care is a universal problem in rural Armenia. Only one room in the Khashtarak health clinic’s two story building is currently in use. Only one doctor works at the unheated facility. The clinic has received medical equipment as part of a support program however, due to the building’s abysmal conditions, it can not be properly used and maintained.
| The damp, unheated room of the clinic has growing mildew on the walls |
There is no ambulance. Patients must make it to the hospital on their own. The situation is worse in the other five villages that are part of the Khashtarak cluster: while there is a resident doctor in Khashtarak, the other surrounding villages only have access to nurses in their respective clinics.
This project focuses on the full scale reconstruction of the health clinic in Khashtarak. It also entails the installation of a heating system and renovation of the roof and floor grounds.
| The building has never been properly maintained. |
“The idea of the cluster of villages is based on our firm belief that the small border communities will have a better chance to overcome their present isolation, to survive and develop in the modern world if they work together”, says Armenia Fund International Executive Director Vahe Aghabegians. “Projects like this will help people living in these villages see themselves as an integral part of the whole and will become the basis for building mutually beneficial and effective cooperation with their neighbors.”
Armenia Fund, Inc., is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation established in 1994 to facilitate large-scale humanitarian and infrastructure development assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia Fund’s main beneficiary project is the Rural Development Program, designed to help end rural poverty in Armenia’s remote regions. Armenia Fund, Inc. is the U.S. Western Region affiliate of "Hayastan" All-Armenian Fund. Tax ID# 95-4485698
