The Ministry of Health shared data on expenses for promoting a healthy lifestyle (HLS) and target indicators for national projects. In October 2023, the National Association «Densaulyk» and the «Strategy» Foundation shared fresh data on the attitudes of Kazakhstan citizens towards a healthy lifestyle, surveying 2,500 respondents across the country. We talked about this in detail in the article «Kazakhstanis and HLS: those who can, do not want and vice versa.»

In short, it was found that the majority of respondents do not have money for healthy eating and habits, and only 11% of the country’s population engages in fitness. A few key points:

• 52.7% of participants have an average per capita income of one family member of 70 to 150 thousand tenge.
• 75% of respondents believe their lifestyle is relatively healthy (mainly youth aged 18 to 21).
• Over 50% cited lack of free time for sports.
• 70% have never visited fitness centers.
• Only 4% of citizens in Kazakhstan swim.
• 48% consume fatty food several times a week.
• About 50% of Kazakhstanis consume alcohol.
• Every fifth Kazakh man and every tenth Kazakh woman has smoked cigarettes. 32% of men and 80% of women have never smoked.
• 27% eat fast food at least once a week.

Based on these figures, it’s hard to consider the citizens of our country as committed to a healthy lifestyle. The leaders of «Densaulyk,» Bakhyt Tumenova, and the «Strategy» Foundation, Gulmira Ileuova, noted in this study that without direct government involvement in forming healthy habits among people, it’s impossible to improve indicators.

The Ministry of Health revealed what the state is doing in this direction. The strategic documents of the ministry include target indicators and sections on ensuring a healthy lifestyle and promoting well-being for people of all ages. One of the directions of the Health Development Concept of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2026 (from November 24, 2022) is «Forming a healthy lifestyle and preventing non-communicable diseases.»

The Action Plan for the implementation of the Concept includes the execution of 8 activities by the end of 2026. The Development Plan of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2023-2027 (from January 27, 2023) includes one target indicator: «Increasing the proportion of Kazakhstan citizens leading a healthy lifestyle, %» (2023 – 25, 2024 – 27, 2025 – 30, 2026 – 33, 2027 – 35). In the Operational Plan for 2023 (from March 28, 2023), 17 activities are aimed at ensuring a healthy lifestyle in 2023, answered Azamat Dyusenov, the director of the department of medical care organization at the Ministry of Health.

• What is the budget for funding the aforementioned programs, projects, and strategies over the last five years?
• Under the implementation of the direction for increasing the proportion of the population leading a healthy lifestyle and the development of mass sports of the National Project ‘Quality and Accessible Healthcare for Every Citizen ‘Healthy Nation’ for 2021-2025 (from October 12, 2021), the following amounts were allocated for activities to form a healthy lifestyle:

• For 2021 – 551.2 million tenge
• For 2022 – 512 million tenge
• For 2023 – 626.4 million tenge
• For 2024 – 709 million tenge
• For 2025 – 737.6 million tenge.

Why Don’t You Do to….Akimat

• Which specific organizations are involved in implementing these program documents, and what is the extent of their funding over the last five years?
• Activities for forming a healthy lifestyle are carried out at the republican level by the State Public Health Service ‘National Center for Public Health’. At the regional level, local executive bodies annually hold a competition for state service procurement as part of the targeted current transfers from the republican budget for promoting a healthy lifestyle. Regarding the volume and sources of funding for the purposes of promoting and forming a healthy lifestyle by organizations subordinate to the ministry and NGO representatives, you can contact local executive bodies. From 2014 to 2016, state centers for forming a healthy lifestyle were abolished and transferred to a competitive environment.
• Who conducted research in Kazakhstan on the taste preferences and harmful habits of Kazakhs, their lifestyle, and coverage by the current social sports infrastructure, when, and for what amount?
• In 2019, as part of a World Bank project, the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan, with the participation of the National Bureau of Statistics and the support of the WHO European Regional Office and the CDC of the USA, organized and conducted the second round of the GATS study. This large-scale survey on tobacco consumption, in line with international requirements, was a new step in establishing national monitoring of the prevalence of various types of tobacco products among the population aged 15 and older and key indicators of tobacco control measures.

In 2020, the National Public Health Center, with the support of the Ministry of Health, WHO, and UNICEF, conducted a study as part of the WHO’s Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI). The first study in the country was carried out in 2015.

As part of the implementation of the National Project ‘Quality and Accessible Healthcare for Every Citizen ‘Healthy Nation’ for 2021-2025, which forms the basis of national monitoring of the health and well-being of school-age children, the National Report ‘Lifestyle Factors of Kazakhstani Schoolchildren Affecting their Physical and Mental Health’ (HBSC) was compiled at the end of the year. The study was conducted by the National Public Health Center with the support of the WHO.

Oh, Sport, the Dream of the Ministry of Health

• What guides the state in adopting its own initiatives for promoting and forming a healthy lifestyle among the population?
• The decision-making is based on analyzing the current situation, recommendations from leading organizations, and results of social research by international organizations (WHO, UNICEF). The main priorities of national programs are rational nutrition, reducing tobacco and alcohol consumption, developing physical activity and health, mental and reproductive health protection, injury reduction, broad population engagement through social networks, NGO support, improving measures at the primary health care level, implementing health programs, and epidemiological surveillance. Memorandums of cooperation with international and public associations, health and education organizations (UNICEF, Nazarbayev University, Astana Medical University, Karagandy Medical University, Kazakh Medical University ‘VSHOZ’, Hospital of the Presidential Affairs Administration Medical Center, National Association ‘PrimaryHealthCare’, Union of Simulation Training and Independent Medical Expertise, etc.) have been signed by the National Public Health Center.
• What are the expected results of all the measures taken by the state? Who is responsible for achieving these results?
• In the implementation of the National Project ‘Quality and Accessible Healthcare for Every Citizen ‘Healthy Nation’, indicators for forming a healthy lifestyle have been defined, such as:

• Increasing the proportion of Kazakhstan citizens leading a healthy lifestyle (30% in 2023, 35% in 2024, 45% in 2025)
• Reducing the prevalence of smoking among the population of Kazakhstan aged 15 and over (20% in 2023, 19.5% in 2024, 19% in 2025)
• Bringing the number of citizens engaged in physical culture and sports to 50% of the total population (42% in 2023, 46% in 2024, 50% in 2025).

The ministry has shared that efforts are being made to improve the health of the population. However, the visible results of these efforts are not clearly demonstrated, as shown by the field research of ‘Densaulyk’ and ‘Strategy’. The Ministry of Health did not respond to inquiries about expenditures on promoting a healthy lifestyle, redirecting the query to local executive bodies, thus keeping the exact figures undisclosed. How the ministry will report the outcomes of the ‘Healthy Nation’ National Project in terms of sports participation and smoking cessation remains to be seen.