UNFPA Moldova donated a batch of modern educational equipment in the field of reproductive health to Nicolae Testemitanu University

Students, medical residents, practitioners and healthcare personnel with secondary education will benefit from extended opportunities for the development and testing of practical skills in the field of sexual and reproductive health thanks to the modern teaching equipment in the form of medical manikins, provided by the United Nations Population Fund in the Republic of Moldova (UNFPA). The beneficiary institutions are: Nicolae Testemitanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, the Training Center in the Simulation Base of the Mother and Child Institute, Raisa Pacalo Center of Excellence in Medicine and Pharmacy and the medical colleges in the municipalities of Bălți, Ungheni, Orhei and Cahul.

The donation ceremony took place on September 27, 2023 and was moderated by the rector of Nicolae Testemitanu university, university professor Emil Ceban, who emphasized that medical manikins had a major role in improving the medical training process, increasing quality and safety of health services in the Republic of Moldova.

The rector highlighted the remarkable results registered within the partnership between Nicolae Testemitanu University and UNFPA Moldova in various areas: maintaining the sexual and reproductive health of the population, strengthening family planning services and improving the process of providing vulnerable groups of the population with modern contraceptives. University staff have developed standardized clinical protocols on: family planning and modern methods of contraception, clinical management of rape cases, as well as the Regulation on the Provision of Contraceptives to Vulnerable Groups for Reproductive Health Specialists. At the same time, the scientific and didactic staff of the University developed video instructional materials for doctors and patients and organized numerous training workshops for professionals at various levels.

Thanks to the partnership between UNFPA and the East European Institute for Reproductive Health, two online platforms were implemented in the university curriculum: "ViC - Virtual Contraceptive Consultation" and "Contraceptive Chain", based on which students, resident doctors and practitioners in the field have been trained remotely. Furthermore, family planning training programs were developed and integrated into pre-university, undergraduate and continuing medical education for urban and rural family doctors, as well as for obstetrician-gynecologists in youth-friendly health centers and of reproductive health offices in 25 districts of the country.

In the 2019-2020 academic year, with the aim of facilitating the training module integration into the university curriculum, Nicolae Testemitanu University in partnership with UNFPA Moldova conducted a series of training courses on the Minimum Initial Package of sexual and reproductive health services in crisis conditions for beneficiaries – teaching staff from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Family Medicine Chair of the University. Over the years, the University has benefited from donations of high-performance equipment from UNFPA Moldova for training practical skills in cervical screening. Moreover, a cervical cytology training program was organized for the country’s morphopathology specialists.

"We express our gratitude to the UNFPA Moldova Representation for the invaluable support given to our country, especially in the field of reproductive and sexual health of the population, training and continuous education of specialists, family planning and crisis management in the field. We also extend our sincere thanks to the Ministry of Health for the support in cooperation with international structures regarding the educational, scientific and clinical process", the rector specified.

According to the state secretary of the Ministry of Health, Associate Professor Alexandru Gasnas, the ministry will increase access to services by creating simulation centers both in the municipality of Chisinau at the clinical bases of Nicolae Testemitanu University and in other regions of the country. "We are grateful to UNFPA Moldova for the donation that will have a significant impact on the strengthening of medical education in the Republic of Moldova, as well as to the rector and the team of the University of Medicine for their efforts to promote medical learning and development", said the official.

"UNFPA, as a UN agency, has the mission to ensure that every pregnancy is planned and every birth is safe and welcomes the continuous modernization of the health system in the Republic of Moldova. The equipment offered will improve the quality of medical studies and complement the efforts of the Ministry of Health in strengthening the quality of sexual and reproductive health services and, most importantly, in saving the lives of women throughout the country," Nigina Abaszada, resident representative of UNFPA Moldova, mentioned.

Mariana Negrean, director of Raisa Pacalo Center of Excellence in Medicine and Pharmacy, expressed her gratitude for the batch of high-performance manikins, which will contribute to ensuring the quality of the practical training of future nurses and midwives. "In the context of the health system and education reforms, the European approach to the process of training specialists for the health system, the Center emphasizes the quality of training and the development of professional skills of future specialists with secondary education, in accordance with the current needs, the requirements of the health system and the strategies and policies of the World Health Organization and the European Union", Mariana Negrean added.

For his part, Sergiu Gladun, director of the Mother and Child Institute, qualified the donation as a significant contribution to improving the quality of medical services and the professional training of healthcare personnel. "The teaching equipment will help us train skills in providing medical assistance in gynecological and obstetrical emergencies, medical examination in cases of rape, providing family planning services and cervical screening," said the MCI manager.

The donation is part of the ongoing actions of UNFPA Moldova in supporting the Ministry of Health to strengthen the capacities and resilience of the local health system. The goal is to respond promptly to the sexual and reproductive health needs of refugee women and youth from Ukraine, as well as those of the host population. The donation is worth over 440 thousand lei.