30 November, Nur-Sultan - Minister of Health, Alexey Tsoi, and UNDP Resident Representative, Yakup Beris, held a meeting today to discuss the priority areas of cooperation under the new UNDP Country Programme for 2021-2025 and its operationalization through joint initiatives as part of the longstanding development cooperation between the Republic of Kazakhstan and UNDP.

“UNDP highly appreciates the ongoing partnership with the Ministry of Health. We look forward to scaling up our cooperation under the new Country Programme for 2021-2025, which focuses on improvement of quality of public services, including in health sector, as one of its key priorities,” said Yakup Beris, UNDP Resident Representative in Kazakhstan.

Mr. Tsoi expressed his gratitude towards the UNDP for its continuous support and collaboration in the area of health and well-being of the population of Kazakhstan, noting the importance of the joint initiative on procurement of live saving medicines. Since 2017 UNDP has been supporting the Ministry of Health in the procurement of medicines for the treatment of socially significant diseases, like hepatitis C and cancer, having saved around USD $ 27 mln of budget funds for Kazakhstan.

The meeting also covered the UNDP COVID-19 response to help Kazakhstan recover better from the COVID-19 pandemic. The response interventions included expert assistance to the Strategic Development Plan – 2025, COVID-19 socio-economic impact assessment, implemented as part of UN response, apprenticeship scheme for vulnerable youth, upgrading digital and teleworking skills of public personnel, and procurement and delivery of equipment for safe waste management to the Nur-Sultan City Centre of Phthisiopulmonology.

UNDP’s support to the national recovery strategy will be further intensified through the new Country Programme, helping Kazakhstan to enhance resilience to future shocks and to ensure that recovery engages all stakeholders and reaches the most vulnerable.