Thirty-seven participants gathered in Kazakhstan on June 14, 2019, for a country advocacy meeting for the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage meeting organized by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and UNAIDS. The meeting drew high-level officials from the Ministry of Health, as well as representatives of medical universities and think tanks, national and international civil society, and UN agencies.

 

The meeting began with a presentation by the Ministry of Health on UHC priorities and goals for Kazakhstan, including to increase the proportion of financing for public health services and primary health care to 60% of total health sector financing. Civil society representatives presented their perspective on UHC, including the urgent need to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure, as articulated in the Key Asks from the UHC Movement for the UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage and Civil Society Priority Actions for the UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage.  Unfortunately, out-of-pocket spending is reported to be on the increase in Kazakhstan.

 

The next steps emerging from this one-day meeting include a recommendation for the Country Coordination Committee to engage the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection to strategize on groups that are left behind and burdened by the high cost of healthcare. A  summary of the notes from the meeting is accessible here.