The Executive Commission for Health Sector Reform launched its provincial health system project yesterday. The program is intended to decentralize health care provision in the nation, which currently is heavily concentrated in and around Santo Domingo. It will emphasize special programs to improve and maintain the health of pregnant and breast feeding mothers and children under the age of five in the periphery of urban centers and in rural areas. It will focus first on the poorer zones of the periphery of the National District and 14 provinces, together which are estimated to cover about 50.9% of the country’s population. The Ministry of Public Health wants to increase planning, monitoring, training and accreditation at the provincial level to bring health care provision more in tune with local needs.
