1. University of Pavia (UniPV), Italy. – grantholder;

2. University of Ulm, Germany;

3. Jagiellonian University, Poland;

4. Tashkent Pediatric Medical Institute – Uzbekistan;

5. Bukhara State Medical Institute – Uzbekistan;

6. Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi – Kazakhstan;

7. Kazakh National Medical University named after SD Asfendiyarov – Kazakhstan;

8. Kazakh Medical Institute of Continuing Education – Kazakhstan;

9. State Medical University named after Abuali Ibn Sino – Tajikistan;

10. Institute of Postgraduate Education in the Field of Health of the Republic of Tajikistan.

11. Khatlon State Medical University – Tajikistan.

The ministries of health and the ministry of higher and specialized secondary education of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan also participate in the project as associate partners.

Objective of the project:

Supporting the modernization, professionalization and internationalization of postgraduate education in the field of childcare in Central Asia (CA) – Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – in close cooperation with partner universities in Europe (Italy, Germany, Poland), who will share with postgraduate experience training in pediatrics, pediatric surgery and pediatric neuropsychiatry. CHILDCA is a joint project organized as a feasibility study, subsequently planned to become a structural project for sustainable and long-term improvement in the organization of postgraduate medical training in the Central Asian countries, and not only in pediatrics, but also possibly in other areas of medicine.

The product of the project will be to emphasize the importance of caring for children in the current health care reform process in the Central Asian countries, which will further reduce infant mortality through an updated approach to modern neonatal and pediatric methods, making extensive use of the tools provided by the latest technologies.

The results will be new curricula and new educational strategies dedicated to integrated child care, in line with those adopted in the EU countries and aimed at achieving the same results.

• To provide a solid and sustainable basis for justifying these results, all partners will be provided with the most advanced ICT training and teleconferencing systems, as well as on-the-job training.

• The preparatory work for the situational analysis and pediatric project census will also provide the government with an invaluable tool that provides a solid foundation for creating any future intervention project in the health system and labor resources for childcare in the Central Asian countries.

• The end result is expected to be a reduction in infant mortality and a significant increase in life expectancy at birth for groups of partner countries that currently live on average ten years less than the EU population.