Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan and UN Partners Advance Digital Health Transformation to Bridge Access Gaps

Bishkek, 23 May 2025 – The Steering Committee of the UN SDG Fund Joint Programme on Digital Transformation convened today for the first time after the Programme’s launch in September 2024 at the “Yntymak Ordo” to review progress and endorse key implementation and governance tools of the initiative “Bridging the Digital Health Divide.”

Opening the meeting, the two Co-Chairs of the Steering Committee, Mr. Azat Ibraimov, Director of the Situation Center for Management and Monitoring of the Implementation of Decisions of the President and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Presidential Administration, and Ms. Antje Grawe, UN Resident Coordinator in the Kyrgyz Republic, reaffirmed the shared commitment to ensuring access to quality healthcare for all, especially for those in remote and underserved areas. The Steering Committee further endorsed the Joint Programme’s governance structure and implementation plan.

“The programme helps bridge the digital divide, strengthens system resilience, and creates the foundation for a more equitable and modern healthcare system. At the same time, we cannot allow pilot solutions to end with the conclusion of the project. The outcome of the programme should be scalable services integrated into a unified digital health ecosystem. National information systems must be developed domestically, under national ownership, and be both technically and institutionally sustainable,” said Mr.Azat Ibraimov welcoming the participants of the meeting.

“Digital health is about leaving no one behind,” Ms. Grawe emphasized. “Our goal is to ensure that everyone — a person with disability in Batken, a midwife or a doctor in Naryn, or a pensioner in Ak-Suu — has access to digital tools to deliver or receive quality healthcare services enabled by digital innovation”

Led by the UN Resident Coordinator and implemented by WHO (lead agency), UNDP, UNFPA, and UNICEF, the Joint Programme supports Kyrgyzstan’s Concept of Digital Transformation (2024–2028) and the Digital Health Care target model Sanarip MED (2025-2027), both of which support comprehensive digital reforms to enhance public health services. In the first nine months, priorities of UN Agencies included leading the development of national digital health standards (WHO), supporting reforms in social protection and disability certification (UNDP), improving access to digital maternal health (UNFPA), and expanding telemedicine (UNFPA, UNICEF). 

Achievements include:

• Connecting the national immunization system with newborn and patient records through a digital platform;
• Creating a new digital tool that helps health workers plan vaccinations more effectively, linked to national health databases;
• Launching a new system to assess disability more fairly and efficiently, and upgrading the national laboratory system to make medical testing faster, more accurate, and more transparent.

The Joint Programme is funded by the Joint SDG Fund’s Digital Transformation Window, with support from the European Union, Spain, Norway, and other Member States. Kyrgyzstan is one of only 13 countries globally to receive this strategic funding.

Media Contacts:
 Aiperi Alymbekova, Communication Support Officer
 World Health Organization (WHO) Kyrgyzstan
 Email: alymbekovaa@who.int
 Phone: +996 778 119 99