The Kyrgyz Republic

*CitiHope's Crisis Response - Providing Health and Healing to IDPs and Victims of Unrest*

CitiHope International has a strong tradition of rapid crisis-response in the Kyrgyz Republic, a unsettled country that has experienced two government overthrows and massive unrest in the last five years. Since April of this year, CitiHope's Bishkek Office has led a major US humanitarian reponse to the political and ethnic clashes that have left thousands displaced, wounded, and in urgent need of care. To date, CitiHope has coordinated delivery of nearly $3 million dollars' worth of emergency care - providing triage, trauma care, surgical equipment, and other essential medicine and medical supplies - through the US Department of State and USAID.

Since late June, CitiHope's Bishkek team has also been leading the USAID response to the Uzbek IDP crisis, providing over 30,000 internally displaced persons with psychological counseling, maternal and child health, clean water and sanitation, and essential first aid.

Within days of the Tulip Revolution's outbreak in 2005, CitiHope's Bishkek Office was conducting rapid assessments of injuries and urgent care, ultimately coordinating the targeted delivery of $3 million dollars to the region's most over-burdened hospitals and communities in need.

See CITIHOPE'S SPECIAL REPORT ON THE CRISIS.

In-Country Presence and History

CitiHope International's commitment to provide humanitarian medical relief for the people of the Kyrgyz Republic began in September 1997. At the request of the U.S. Department of State’s Operation Provide Hope, CitiHope President Paul Moore led an advance needs assessment in anticipation of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's official November 1997 visit. Following this assessment, CitiHope acquired $1.6 million in medicine and medical supplies which were delivered just prior to the First Lady's arrival in Bishkek.

Since that time, CitiHope has delivered over $76 million dollars-worth of life-saving medicine and medical supplies and has opened a local office in Bishkek. Staffed by Kyrgyz medical and business professionals, CitiHope's Bishkek office serves as the hub of our activity in Central Asia.

In addition to medical humanitarian relief, CitiHope has delivered over 150 metric tons of vitamin-fortified dehydrated food aid in partnership with USAID's Food for Peace program. CitiHope uses this critically-needed food aid to alleviate food shortages and nutritional insecurity among vulnerable populations, including the elderly, orphans, the disabled, and the chronically ill.

Over the last 8 years, CitiHope has actively worked to advance public healthcare policy in Kyrgyzstan. Although a leader in Central Asian health reform, Kyrgyzstan's access to essential pharmaceuticals and education on rational drug usage and rational pharmaceutical management remains an important hurdle for the national healthcare system.  CitiHope has partnered with the Kyrgyz Ministry of Health, local health facilities, and other international NGOs to promote rational drug usage, offer training in clinical pharmacology, and conduct region-wide reports on proper use and access to essential medicines - resulting in CitiHope's leading role in the nation-wide Pharmaceutical Care Program and Pharmaceutical Benefit Initiative.

Since 2009, CitiHope has also been the sole major entity in-country to respond to the rising problem of Hepatitis C in Kyrgyzstan. Situated on a geographic crossroads of drug trafficking, with poor community education on transmission and little attention given by the international community, urban communities are at growing risk of infection. CitiHope has developed training, community education, and treatment of Hepatitis C for residents of Bishkek city.

For more information on CitiHope's work to strengthen health care and support vulnerable communities in the Kyrgyz Republic, please contact Goulmira Sydykova at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or Catherine Woodiwiss at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

A nurse checks an infant's temperature in the new Emergency Ward of the Bishkek Child Hospital, rebuilt by CitiHope staff in partnership with the US Department of State.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, May 2010