Kazakhstan is Central Asian leader to fight TB
Malik Adenov tells the country’s political commitment allows the citizens to receive free medical care largely through the republican budget, with each region funneling funds for social care. As of today, all the legal and regulatory instruments of international organizations are already agreed and approved in Kazakhstan.
Notwithstanding the fall in tuberculosis deaths, the State maintains the budget on the same level so the funds can be re-financed to introduce latest technologies.
“Under the new guaranteed amount of free health care, everyone, including foreigners permanently residing within Kazakhstan, is subject to free health care, including TB care”, Mr Adenov recalled at the Fourth international conference on integrated TB control.
Integrated TB control focused on the needs of patients and their families is one of the key requirements of the WHO Strategy to end TB, which centers on dropping tuberculosis-related deaths by 95% and reducing tuberculosis cases by 90% by 2035 as against the 2015 figure.
The Central Asian governments carry out integrated patient-orientated prevention measures and TB treatment closely collaborating with all interested parties, including the civil society and international organizations.
Under the 2014-2020 Comprehensive Plan to fight tuberculosis, Kazakhstan is ahead of other countries in Central Asia in terms of implementing integrated TB treatment and initiating a dialogue to cope with trans-border tuberculosis control in the region through agreements and multilateral mechanisms between countries.
Kazakhstan has developed and successfully introduced the model of integrated TB control, including all priority aspects to fight the disease, to further improve the quality of anti-tuberculosis services.
“Pursuing the policies of the WHO and the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, the country has integrated its anti-TB measures into a network of primary health care. Public funds to treat persons suffering from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis rose, the infection control measures strengthened. The roll-out of innovative express-methods to diagnose and treat TB continues”, Yelzhan Birtanov, Kazakh Health Minister, said.
The Minister expressed the hope that all these measures will shortly actively facilitate the end of TB in Kazakhstan and the entire region.
Christopher Edwards, USAID’s Regional Mission Director for Central Asia told that the conference proves the commitment of the governments and civil society organizations of the Central Asian countries to collaborate so as to put an end to the dissemination of the deadly but treatable disease.
“The United States takes pride in having been partnering with the Central Asian governments for over two decades to end TB. Our joint work allowed for expanding access to quality health services and significantly cut down tuberculosis cases and deaths compared with the previous decade”, Christopher Edwards said.
Over 160 attendees from health departments and government structures as well as interested parties from Central Asia, the WHO, STOPTBPartnership, national and international partner organizations, leading world experts in tuberculosis, public health statesmen and health workers from all round Kazakhstan have rallied in the 4th International Conference on Integrated TB Control in Central Asia to exchange the best practices and experiences in the implementation of the WTO Central Asia Strategy to eliminate tuberculosis (EndTBStrategy) and the Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on the Elimination of TB.
Among the major participants were the Kazakh Health Ministry, the US Agency for International Development, the National Scientific Center of Phthisiopulmonology and ProjectHOPE with support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The Nur-Sultan conference on integrated TB control was a continuation to the same previous conferences organized under support of USAID in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2016; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (2017); and Dushanbe, Tajikistan (2017).
Adlet Seilkhanov
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