A high-level delegation from Kyrgyzstan recently visited the WHO Primary Health Care Demonstration Platform in Esik, Kazakhstan, to experience a high-performing primary health care (PHC) model in action. The objective of the PHC Demonstration Platform is to showcase reorganized and well functioning PHC models, boosting cross-country learning while adapting the lessons learned to different contexts.
The PHC Demonstration Platform was launched in Kazakhstan in March 2022 by Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, and Dr Azhar Giniyat, Minister of Health of Kazakhstan. Speaking during the launch, Dr Kluge said, “Tell me, and I will listen; teach me, and I will remember; involve me, and I will learn. This is the approach of the new initiative, the WHO Primary Health Care Demonstration Platform. It goes beyond just writing reports or developing best practice guidelines. It shows countries what efficient primary health care looks like in practice and involves them in its processes.”
Later this month, the next WHO PHC Demonstration Platform will be launched in Sweden. Its goal is to showcase PHC service delivery in rural, remote and sparsely populated areas in a multiplatform context to bridge gaps using digital solutions.
The PHC Demonstration Platform in Kazakhstan exhibits well performing multidisciplinary PHC teams, shows how implementation barriers can be overcome, and provides an opportunity to learn from the experiences of change-makers.
Uzbekistan was the first country to visit Kazakhstan’s PHC Demonstration Platform; Kyrgyzstan is now the second. The Kyrgyz team was composed of policy-makers from the Ministry of Health, along with regional health managers, medical university professors and family doctors.
During the 4-day visit, the Kyrgyz delegation participated in a tailored training programme at the Enbekshikazakh Primary Health Care Centre of Excellence in Almaty Oblast. They learned first-hand how the district is transforming the PHC system in rural areas through expanded multidisciplinary PHC teams.
The group discussed how these best practices from Kazakhstan can be adapted to the realities and needs of Kyrgyzstan, how to overcome implementation barriers, how to build on success factors, and how to bring together the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders, including service users, to strengthen the PHC system in Kyrgyzstan.
As Dr Ulan Sadykov, Deputy Minister of Health of Kyrgyzstan, said, “Kyrgyzstan is on the way to primary health care transformation, and this visit gave us inspiration but also ideas in action. What we see here in this centre of excellence is real team work. No one says: ‘This is not my responsibility,’ – everyone is working together with colleagues, keeping a strong focus on patients’ needs.”
The next country to visit the PHC Demonstration Platform will be Tajikistan.
Dr Melitta Jakab, Head of the WHO European Centre for Primary Health Care, highlighted 3 key lessons learned for the successful transformation of the PHC model based on Kazakhstan’s experience:
- empower family doctors and nurses as the foundation of a multidisciplinary approach;
- invest in organizational development for teamwork and shared decision-making; and
- increase and reorganize funding streams to provide the right incentives to expand the scope of services, address access gaps in rural areas and reduce unnecessary hospitalizations.
What is the PHC Demonstration Platform experience?
The PHC Demonstration Platform experience is structured as a 4- to 5-day visit connecting national and regional policy-makers and practitioners from the host and visiting countries. Visiting countries not only learn about the vision of well functioning PHC, they also gain a practical understanding of how to turn this vision into a reality by overcoming implementation barriers.
Visiting delegations have opportunities to speak with people and agencies, learn more about the implementation of PHC transformation, and discover ways to harness the experiences of other countries. WHO tailors the programme to the current needs and context of the visiting country, and provides technical support on further implementation.