Transformation of primary health care in Kazakhstan: moving towards a multidisciplinary model: primary health care policy paper series

Kazakhstan has consistently strongly advocated strengthening primary health care (‎PHC)‎ both in Kazakhstan and abroad. Currently, it has a unique multidisciplinary team-based PHC model, which is the most dramatic departure from the experience of other countries in the eastern part of the WHO European Region. Since the early 1990s, Kazakhstan has had a sustained political commitment towards a PHC-centred health system. Over the next two decades, multiple transformations were introduced to move towards multidisciplinary team-based PHC, and the transformation continued to be supported through system enablers such as governance, human and physical resources, financing and the digitalization of PHC. This case study describes this whole-of-system transformation to Kazakhstan’s model of care between the 1990s to the present. Early results and lessons from implementation are also reflected upon. The case study aims ultimately to offer first-hand insight and expertise for countries at varied stages of embarking on large-scale PHC transformation.