Background A new two-year Post University Specialty Training (PUST) programme in family medicine was introduced to improve the quality of postgraduate speciality medical education in Tajikistan. Postgraduate education of family doctors (FDs) needs to be urgently scaled up, as 38% of FD positions in Tajikistan remained unfilled in 2018. Moreover, the international financial support for the PUST programme is ending. This investment case assesses the minimum funding needed for the continuation and scale-up of PUST and establishes the rationale for the investment in the light of a recent evaluation. Methods The costs of the programme were calculated for 2018 and a scale-up forecast made for the period 2019–2023. The impact of the scale-up on the shortage of FDs was assessed. An evaluation using a Multiple Choice Questionnaire and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) assessed and compared theoretical knowledge, clinical skills and competencies of PUST trained and conventionally trained FDs. Results The annual costs of the programme were US$ 228,000 in 2018. The total investment needed for scaling up PUST from 31 new FDs in 2018 to 100 FD graduates each year by 2023 was US$ 802,000.However, when the retirement of FDs and population growth are considered, the scale-up will result only in maintaining the current level of FDs working and not solve the country’s FD shortage. The PUST FDs demonstrated significantly better clinical skills than the conventionally trained interns, scoring 60 and 45% of OSCE points, respectively. Theoretical knowledge showed a similar trend; PUST FDs answered 44% and interns 38% of the questions correctly. Conclusions The two-year PUST programme has clearly demonstrated it produces better skilled family doctors than the conventional one-year internship, albeit some enduring quality concerns do still prevail. The discontinuation of international support for PUST would be a major setback and risks potentially losing the benefits of the programme for family medicine and also other specialities. To guarantee the supply of adequately trained FDs and address the FD shortage, the PUST should be continued and scaled up. Therefore, it is essential that international support is extended and a gradual transition to sustainable national financing gets underway.

High blood pressure is a major public health problem, with indicators of morbidity and mortality being alarming. Therapeutic education in hypertension increases the level of awareness, blood pressure control and prevents complications. The aim of the study is to evaluate the process of organizing the therapeutic education of patients with hypertension at the level of primary health care in the Republic of Moldova. Study design: descriptive, transversal, by applying the questionnaire developed in the interest of the study. Study methods: statistical, synthetic, comparative, graphical. Th e study involved 371 respondents, of which 65% family physicians, 35% nurses. The majority of medical staff (98.1%) consider therapeutic education important, 87.3% recognized the definition of therapeutic education and its benefits: blood pressure control (90.6%); decrease in mortality caused by complications (81.7%); increasing treatment compliance (72.5%); disease awareness (65.5%). The surveyed medical staff demonstrated a disproportionate involvement in the 4 stages of the organization process: 42.3% are involved in the planning stage, 93.0% - implementation 29.1% - evaluation and 54.2% - organization. The process of organizing therapeutic education is incomplete, due to the lack or insufficiency of planning and evaluation of therapeutic education of patients with hypertension.