{"id":260,"date":"2026-04-13T11:30:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/?p=260"},"modified":"2026-04-14T13:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T17:09:33","slug":"boston-university-henar-expand-syunik-healthworker-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/2026\/04\/13\/boston-university-henar-expand-syunik-healthworker-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston University\/HENAR Expand Syunik Healthworker Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"People
2026 Training session<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The HENAR Foundation recently announced expansion of their Community Healthworker (CHW) Program in Syunik, the southernmost province of Armenia. What started with three villages in 2024 has expanded to four additional villages, thanks to funding from the John and Hasmik Mgrdichian Foundation<\/a>. For the past year, primary medical care in these rural villages has been supported by community healthworkers with HENAR\u2019s leadership and support. Most recently, HENAR has partnered with the Boston University-Armenia Medical Partnership (BU-AMP) on the CHW project, heralding an exciting new phase of collaborative effort. Plans to scale up the project to more villages in Syunik, to introduce new training approaches, and to raise community awareness are essential components of the new partnership.<\/p>\n

CHWs are healthcare workers that directly represent the community they work in and provide basic medical and psycho-social services without the formal education required to be a
\nprofessional healthcare provider. It\u2019s a model that has been introduced and scaled all over the
\nworld, including in the USA. It has had deep positive change in many settings and is an intervention that the World Health Organization considers a fundamental component of any good healthcare system. Costa Rica\u2019s CHW system has been lauded as a main cause of the country\u2019s exceptional health outcomes, in a region with mostly poor outcomes at higher cost.<\/p>\n

\"Headshot
Aram Kaligian, MD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cCommunity healthworker programs are so important to delivering quality healthcare in underserved areas,\u201d says Aram Kaligian<\/a>, director of the BU-AMP. \u201cSyunik is a full day\u2019s drive from Yerevan, and most villagers there just do not have the same access to healthcare as other parts of Armenia. So often the barrier to good health outcomes is due to patients\u2019 misunderstanding how to take their medications, what to do if they can\u2019t get their prescriptions filled, or just being too far from health facilities.\u201d Community healthworkers help explain what medications are for, how to take them correctly, and help troubleshoot any difficulties with access to medical care.<\/p>\n

Currently the program functions in seven villages near the towns of Goris, Sissian, and Tatev — all a full day\u2019s journey from Yerevan — sitting close to the borders with Azerbaijan and Iran. The
\nvillagers in this region have seen conflict and trauma from generations of war and face a difficult
\nsituation given their isolation from the rest of the country. They often feel forgotten and
\ndisconnected from their doctors, clinics, and hospitals.<\/p>\n

\"People
Participants in 2026 training session.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CHWs work to fill these gaps and support those in need. HENAR started with focus groups,
\nasking the community what were their health priorities and obstacles. They then found villagers
\nto work alongside the existing village nurses and trained pairs (one CHW and one nurse) in
\neach village to provide care, both physical and psychological. The program does not work to replace any part of the healthcare system in the region but works to complement it, connecting patients to their doctors, helping clarifying their medication lists, and supporting health screenings in places that the system cannot always reach. The groups started slowly, going door to door, introducing themselves as part of this new approach towards health. What was
\nfirst seen with a bit of skepticism by the villagers is now an essential service. If a CHW takes even a few days off villagers are asking where they went and why they haven’t visited recently.<\/p>\n

The program is one born from a collaborative group of healthcare professionals and volunteers,
\nincluding diasporan physicians from the US. The program director, Dr. Henry Louis, has built
\nCHW programs in countries across the region and introduced the concept to Syunik through the
\nHENAR foundation\u2019s initiative. \u201cThe CHWs that work in Syunik provide essential services to villagers that otherwise would not interact with the healthcare system,\u201d says Louis. \u201cGoing to someone\u2019s home and sitting with them in their living room, talking to them about their health and wellness, is therapeutic in and of itself. If we can get people to go to their doctors and take their meds, even better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The HENAR Foundation recently announced expansion of their Community Healthworker (CHW) Program in Syunik, the southernmost province of Armenia. What started with three villages in 2024 has expanded to four additional villages, thanks to funding from the John and Hasmik Mgrdichian Foundation. For the past year, primary medical care in these rural villages has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2114],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions\/289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/armenia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}