About Us

Mission.

Because “good health is a fundamental resource for social and economic development,” as well as an inalienable right, PH is dedicated to building critical health knowledge and skills through health education and training of the primary care providers across the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska. PH empowers its strategic institutions in building their capacity to provide sustainable improvements in the quality of essential health services. Our target groups are intravenous drug users, people living with HIV and AIDS and the segments of populations who are deemed at high risk of HIV infections, female sex workers, troubled youth, and people with disabilities. In domain of sustainable capacity development our primary target group is the health care providers.

Partnerships in Health was initially a part of the US based non-government organization Project HOPE. Affiliation to the Project HOPE was active until the September 2005, when the organization was re-registered as a part of the Swiss based Foundation Partnerships in Health Suisse, following an agreement between the Project HOPE and Swiss fundraising office which become Foundation Partnerships in Health Suisse. From 1998 to 2005 PH Suisse implemented the projects from within the mainframe of the global activities of the Project HOPE. After the organizational and structural changes in 2005, PH Suisse became a fully independent Swiss foundation, initiating a creation of a regional organization called Partnerships in Health – Bosnia and Herzegovina as a continuation of the Project Hope’s programmatic and professional legacy. Thus, the critical organizational change did not affect the PH B&H project portfolio, which at that time included projects in family health care, HIV and AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, diabetes and several smaller projects.

In 2006, the PH B&H project portfolio grew to include a new Diabetes Management Project financed by the CIDA, Medtronic Foundation, Fedevaco Foundation, and Vontobel Stiffung. In the same year PH B&H also gained yet another important partner, UNFPA, implementing the Project of Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adolescents and providing support for four Youth Informative Centers in collaboration with four health institutions specialized in sexual and reproductive health.

In 2007 we became a partner to the GFATM, implementing two of their HIV and AIDS programs in collaboration with the UNDP Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The second phase of the Western Balkans HIV and AIDS program was approved and funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency in the same year. Since then we have been operating as an independent non-government organization and partner to PH Suisse. This transformation has not affected the size or capacities of the organization.

Today Partnerships in Health (Partnerstvo za zdravlje) is registered as a Bosnian non-government organization dealing with health education and training activities and marginalized populations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. PH is closely working with governments, institutes of public health, professional associations and civil society in building the capacity of health personnel, strengthening the civil society and health care delivery for people affected by diseases. Also, PH provides support to the civil society in general and vulnerable populations and individuals in need in particular. Currently, we are very active in the domain of the fight against HIV and AIDS, implementing the Western-Balkans program to Fight HIV/AIDS, the program dealing with sexual and reproductive health, and several others. We have a diverse network of strategic partners, including, among others, Ministries of Health (FBiH and Republic Srpska), Primary Health Care institutions, Institutes of Public Health, Clinical Centers, Medical professional associations and chambers, non-governmental organizations and UN agencies.

Partnerships in Health currently employs eleven full-time employees, one part-time employee and one volunteer. Contrary to current practice in Bosnian NGOs who offer employment exclusively on contract basis, all PH staff is employed on a permanent basis (which means that PH pays full benefit package to its employees – social security, medical and life insurance, family and sick leave etc.)