In 2004 Trace Foundation, in collaboration with the Bayen (Hualong) County Health Bureau and other partners, established the Qinghai Primary Health Care Project (QPHP) to improve healthcare in Serzhong (Jingyuan), Chumar and Tagya townships, the most remote townships of Bayen County in Qinghai Province. Trace Foundation has identified underdeveloped healthcare systems as among the most significant factors constraining economic development of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Foundation’s health projects seek to strengthen access to and quality of healthcare systems to meet the needs of targeted rural communities.
Rural Tibetans rely on both Western medicine hospitals and clinics and traditional Tibetan medicine facilities for healthcare. While both systems have unique advantages, both face significant challenges at the rural level: training, resources, and equipment for healthcare workers are scarce, and rural communities often lack information on public health issues and preventative care. Additional problems affect Tibetan medicine specifically, such as a lack of Tibetan-language medical training and teaching materials. The QPHP project sought to strengthen both Tibetan and Western healthcare systems in the three target townships by focusing on improving healthcare resources in the following areas:
Primary healthcare management:
Medical equipment and medicine production:
duration: March 2004 – June 2007
budget: $532,000
(TF Contribution $530,758; 91%)
location:
Qinghai Province
Tsoshar (Haidong) Prefecture,
Bayen(Hualong) County, Serzhong (Jingyuan) Township,
Chumar Township, and Tagya Township
QPHC project partners:
