Minister of Healthcare Azhar Giniyat took part in the 75th World Health Assembly
Geneva, 22-25 May 2022 – The Kazakh delegation headed by the Minister of Healthcare Azhar Giniyat participated in the 75th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA75), dedicated to the theme “Health for peace, peace for health”.
Addressing the delegations of the member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the first time in the history of the Organization in the Kazakh language, Azhar Giniyat confirmed Kazakhstan's commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including ensuring universal health coverage (UHC) and preventing noncommunicable diseases.
The Kazakh Minister met with WHO Director General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, being one of the first to congratulate him on his re-election for the second term. The parties exchanged views on the current cooperation between Kazakhstan and the Organization.
The Head of WHO fully supported the initiatives of our country on primary health care (PHC). Dr. Ghebreyesus proposed to include Kazakhstan's initiatives in the WHO global agenda to celebrate the 75th anniversary of WHO in 2023.
He noted that PHC should become a priority issue on the global health agenda in the context of prevention and response to the pandemic. The possible dates of the visit of the WHO Director General to Kazakhstan were also discussed.
On the margins of WHA75, Minister Giniyat and WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Kluge signed a cooperation agreement for 2022-2023.
During the session, the Kazakh delegation held talks with the Deputy Director General of WHO Zsuzsanna Jakab, Head of the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Adriana Blanco Marquizo, Executive Director of the Stop-TB Partnership Dr Lucica Ditiu and representatives of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The head of the Kazakh delegation participated in the meeting of the Ministers of Health of the Central Asian countries and Dr. Hans Kluge, and met with the Ministers of Health of India, Indonesia, Thailand, Georgia and the heads of delegations of the Russian Federation and Japan. The parties exchanged views on key areas of the WHA75 agenda, as well as on the topic of promoting PHC as an important tool for achieving UHC, and Kazakhstan’s international initiatives in this area, including the joint advancement of the Astana Declaration on PHC, which was adopted by more than 150 countries in 2018 in Kazakhstan.
The Health Assembly is WHO’s highest decision-making body, which determines the Organization's policies and approves its budget. The WHA is attended by delegations from all 194 WHO Member States.