Today Minister of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yelzhan Birtanov made a presentation at the Global Conference of the World Health Organization on enhancing the policy coherence in the areas affecting the prevention and epidemiological surveillance of noncommunicable diseases in Montevideo (Uruguay). The minister acted as a speaker from the European region.

In his speech the minister told about the State Healthcare Development Program "Densaulyk", which is an important tool for planning and monitoring, which provides a commitment to reform the system and achieve certain key performance indicators.

Yelzhan Birtanov noted that Kazakhstan welcomes efforts around the world to prevent and combat NCDs, and also joins them through sound internal policies based on scientifically grounded public health strategies.

He also informed that strengthening of the national healthcare service is one of the key tasks of the state program "Densaulyk" for 2016-2019. To date, the Government has approved a national model of the public health service of Kazakhstan, which is based on ten main public health functions defined by WHO.

In addition, in consequence of the Internet use, today people are informed about their health and can learn to stay healthy. And we must use all modern and innovative information and communication technologies to help people be healthy.

"We assume that information and communication technologies should reduce the gap in people's knowledge of their health status. Technology will also provide access to medical care. The use of modern telecommunication technologies opens up wide opportunities for improving the prevention and treatment of diseases. Physical access to the doctor is expanded due to instant virtual access to the doctor. Communication between patients and doctors will be facilitated not only by access to the therapist, but also to all members of the team involved in the fight against the diseases of the patient," Yelzhan Birtanov added.

"Another goal of the state program “Densaulyk” is focused on an integrated approach to provide services for noncommunicable diseases. All services, regardless of their level and complexity, should be integrated around the patient. In Kazakhstan, we integrate some of the previously separately administered specialized services, such as oncology, mental health and tuberculosis with primary health care. The basis for an integrated approach to care is interactive patient-centered services and multidisciplinary team treatment," the minister said.

At the end of his speech, he invited his colleagues to attend the conference dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care (PHC), which will be held with the participation of WHO and UNICEF in Almaty in October 2018. In this regard it should be noted that the main topic of the conference will be the issues of PHC and information technologies.

"We believe that primary care is the ‘heart and doors’ for healthcare and a key factor that influences people's behavior and the fight against diseases," Yelzhan Birtanov summed up his speech.

As you know, in May of this year at the 70th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Y. Birtanov made an initiative to update the historic Alma-Ata Declaration of WHO on primary health care of 1978. At the same time, during the 67th session of the European Regional Committee for Europe in Budapest, WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus, during a meeting with the Kazakh delegation, expressed support for the discussion of the updated version of this declaration, taking into account the current challenges and changes over the years. Also, the head of WHO proposed the creation of a joint working group with the participation of representatives of the WHO European Bureau, the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan and international experts on PHC. The updated Declaration is planned to be submitted to the 72nd World Health Assembly in May 2019.

For reference:

The WHO Conference on Noncommunicable diseases in Montevideo (Uruguay) is attended by heads of state and government, ministers of healthcare, agriculture, finance, foreign affairs, state planning and trade, public policy developers, as well as experts and international activists.