International Medical Corps recognized for accomplishments in Azerbaijan

IMC was awarded the top prize conferred annually by the Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND) for the innovative way it brought quality health care to low income communities in Azerbaijan.

The project, which ran from 2000 through 2005, organized 225 community groups to build, maintain, and manage health clinics in 36 towns and villages. As part of the program, 180 Azeri medical professionals received training in the field of primary health management. An IMC-trained peer education network also schooled over 40,000 community members on basic health skills.

But the project's most innovative dimension came in nine of the communities where residents contributed to health funds that then paid health clinic costs. The result is a defacto cooperative health insurance plan.

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