In mid-2019 UNICEF Uzbekistan and UNFPA Uzbekistan, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan, jointly launched a project on improving the quality of perinatal care services to the most vulnerable population in Republic of Karakalpakstan (RoK) within the framework of UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund for Human Security or Aral Sea region in Uzbekistan. The project envisages large scale upgrade of perinatal facilities, comprehensive training of healthcare providers in 8 out of 15 districts of RoK, capacity building activities for public policymakers, and Mother and Newborn Health Care advocacy.

We continue to carry out a number of activities to support the Ministries of Health of the Republic Uzbekistan and the Republic of Karakalpakstan in ensuring the population's access to perinatal services by improving infrastructure and equipping second-level medical institutions with the necessary equipment, as well as improving the quality of maternal and child health services.

On 5 October UNFPA initiated a course of 5-day online trainings for 50 employees of the Republican Perinatal Center of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, maternity facilities of the Kungrad and Beruniy district medical associations and the city hospital of Nukus on "clinical audit of near miss cases" in obstetrics. 

 
The primary goal of audit of near miss cases is to reduce preventable maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. It focuses on identifying the modifiable factors that were the root cause of the critical case, formulating recommendations aimed at eliminating such factors and solving the problems identified. Audit of near miss cases implies working in a team of all those specialists who were involved in a critical case and looking for ways to correct mistakes, rather than identifying and punishing those responsible, since the fear of punishment often leads to concealment of facts, which negatively affects the quality of further work and does not allow work on mistakes.

These trainings are based on the national standards "On the procedure for auditing near miss cases in obstetrics in obstetric facilities of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan", developed by the Ministry of Health with technical support from UNFPA at the end of 2019.