Meeting of the CAREC Working Group on Health, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Given the increasing interconnectedness and common health challenges across the region, Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) member countries agreed to deepen regional cooperation in health. Regional health cooperation facilitates dialogue and knowledge exchange, leverages economies of scale, harmonization of regulation and standards, and development of joint regional approaches and mechanisms to common health challenges.

The CAREC Working Group on Health (WGH) was established in March 2021 to guide CAREC health cooperation and implement the CAREC Health Strategy 2030 and the Regional Investment Framework for Health 2022-2027 (RIF). The strategy which was adopted by the CAREC Ministerial Conference in November 2021 focusses on regional health security because regional cooperation is critical to address public health threats such as infectious diseases outbreaks.

Following the first on-site meeting of the CAREC WGH, which took place from 11-13 October 2022 in Tbilisi, Georgia, the Working Group adopted the RIF 2022-2027 in March 2023. The RIF identifies priority projects and technical assistance to promote regional health security and cooperation. Post-pandemic countries have begun to strengthen their health system’s resilience and take steps to improve emergency preparedness, e.g., through the development of national action plans for health security and leveraging the pandemic fund. During the meeting, participants reviewed the progress of implementing the CAREC Health Strategy and Investment Framework and identified a work program for 2024. They also shared knowledge on climate change and health (security).