Introduction
Since 2001, Luxembourg has been supporting the Mongolian government to address cardiovascular disease, which continues to be the leading cause of death in the country. This bilateral project by Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation in Mongolia has expanded in recent years, focusing on strengthening cardiology services by applying telemedicine solutions and services in the cardiovascular health sector, both centrally and in the provinces. The aim is to provide appropriate treatment to patients referred and to reduce excessive and costly medical referrals. Since 2012, the project has achieved national coverage.
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Alongside this, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation has been supporting the maternal and child health care sector in Mongolia since 2007 through the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Talks were launched with the Mongolian authorities in order to jointly identify future support from Luxembourg in these two areas.
Priority areas of intervention
- Good health and well-being
- Gender equality
- Reduced inequalities
- Partnerships for the goals
The COVID-19 pandemic and, more specifically, the closure of the borders since January 2020 has had a severe impact on the delivery of the programme, leading to its extension for a year in order to move those activities in the project that have not been implemented to 2021.
As part of the response to COVID-19 in Mongolia, Luxembourg’s Development Cooperation has supported two interventions since June 2020, to the value of EUR 345,000 and EUR 486,200 respectively, to compensate for the delays in implementing certain activities that had been set out in the annual work plan.
The first contribution made it possible to provide a positive response to a request from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to boost the capacities of the maternal health services through the uninterrupted supply of vital services to pregnant women, in Ulaanbaatar and in four border provinces. In addition, the project seeks to protect the safety and dignity of women and girls in quarantine, including healthcare providers.
The second contribution was launched in collaboration with LuxDev, with the aim of boosting the capacities of cardiovascular services as part of the fight against COVID-19 by making available various types of biomedical and essential protective equipment required to prevent the spread of the virus and for the treatment of COVID-19 patients with underlying cardiovascular disease.
Reference data
- Population (MIO): 3.3
- GNI (per resident): USD 11,420
- Human Development Index (HDI): 99/189
- Life expectancy: 69.9
- Indicative Cooperation Programme: N/A
Key achievements 2020
- Provision of 8 ventilators centrally and to border provinces to help boost hospitals’ capacities to cope with complications resulting from infection
- Training more than 630 healthcare providers in the correct use of personal protective equipment provided by the project, including N95 respirators, surgical masks and other tools
- Capacity-building and preparation for the care of pregnant and post-partum women with coronavirus, including complications resulting from infection, maternity services at the national centre for maternal and child health care, the top 3 maternity hospitals in Ulaanbaatar and in 5 provinces
Sector breakdown
2020
