AKIPRESS.COM - Village health committees and municipalities have implemented joint projects to improve the health of their population in 32 villages of Issyk-Kul and 25 villages of Jalal-Abad regions of Kyrgyzstan with the support of the Swiss government, the Swiss Embassy in Bishkek said.

Opening of completed projects will take place in the villages of Jalal-Abad region on August 3-5 August, in the villages of Issyk-Kul region on August 10-11.

Implementation of the projects started about a year ago. The main achievements of this initiative are:

- More than 60,000 people have access to clean drinking water in 27 villages of the country;

- Health care organizations, which provide services to about 28,000 villagers, have been renovated in 10 villages;

- Sports facilities (ranging from gyms to mini-stadiums) have been built in 8 villages which benefit about 88,000 people;

- Renovation and installation of equipment in kindergartens and schools have improved conditions for 1,200 kids and teachers in 4 villages;

- Rehabilitation centers for 900 people with disabilities became operational in 3 villages;

- Projects on leisure facilities for more than 7,000 people in villages have been supported;

- Purchase of equipment and installation of containers resolved the issue of household waste in villages of about 6,500 people.

Around 51 million soms have been spent for the realization of these projects: 40 million soms have been allocated by the Swiss side and more than 10 million soms have been co-financed by the municipalities from their local budgets. This approach helped to strengthen participation of municipalities in promoting and protecting the health of their population together with village health committees.

The Swiss support is carried out under the small grants program within the framework of the project "Community Action for Health" funded by the Embassy of Switzerland in the Kyrgyz Republic.