The protection of health workers, in particular midwives, nurses, obstetricians and anesthesiologists, must be prioritized as critical and lifesaving and they should be provided with personal protective equipment at any time.

To support the national efforts to equip health care providers with personal protective equipment (PPE) UNFPA Uzbekistan Country Office started delivering personal protection equipment and sanitary items to 14 maternal hospitals of the Tashkent city.

As of today our contribution to the cause includes 2,000 bottles of sanitizers, 50,000 pairs of sterile gloves and 50,000 pairs of non-sterile gloves. More items are due in the coming period.

Another response focused on ensuring continuity of sexual and reproductive health services and interventions included support of the development of the “National Interim Clinical Guidelines on Pregnancy and Childbirth Management in Covid”, approved by the MoH, which serve as basis for joint online trainings, with WHO, for medical staff providing maternal healthcare services. The guidelines along with the “routing algorithm for pregnant women, women in labor with suspected COVID-19 when referring the policlinic and referral for inpatient treatment” were printed in Uzbek and Russian languages for dissemination to the maternity hospitals nationwide.