DUSHANBE, September 29, 2011, Asia-Plus -- The Ministry of Health of Tajikistan held the 3rd Steering Committee for the EU funded HMIS II Project on September 23 at the Republican Centre of Statistics and Medical Information, press release issued by the Delegation of the European Union in Tajikistan on September 29 said.

Development of a Health Management Information System in Tajikistan (HMIS II) Project held its 3rd and last Steering Committee meeting, which gathered project partners, beneficiaries, the EU representatives and government officials.  The meeting was opened by the first deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Jobirova.

The project is near the end of the second phase of a long-term support from the EU to the MoH to establish a modern and quality Health Information System.  It is implemented by EPOS Health Management and works closely together with the beneficiary, the Republican Centre of Statistics and Medical Information.

During the Steering Committee meeting the project progress was presented and discussed, as well as opportunities and challenges for the implementation of DHIS2 (District Health Information Software), an open source application, which was chosen by the country as a solution to modernize its Health Information System.

The European Union, composed of 27 Member States, is the world’s biggest aid donor. Tajikistan gets the main share of bilateral assistance in the Central Asian region (€66 million for 2007-2010 and 62 million for 2011-2013) in support to sector programs, technical assistance and grants. It focuses on social protection, health and private sector development, underpinned by public finance management. Tajikistan also receives regional and thematic assistance in areas like border management and drug control (BOMCA/CADAP), education (TEMPUS, Erasmus Mundus), water / environment, migration, human rights and democracy (EIDHR), non-State actors (NSA) and SME development (CA-Invest). The total value of EU assistance disbursed to Tajikistan since 1992 is over €500 million.