About APM

Kazakhstan Academy of Preventive Medicine is a nongovernmental organization founded in 1995 by a group of Kazakhstan’s leading healthcare managers and physician-researchers. The Academy is nongovernmental, multidisciplinary organization of public health professionals, healthcare managers, physicians, and biomedical researchers in Kazakhstan.

The vision of the Academy of Preventive Medicine is a strong and well-supported national healthcare system in Kazakhstan. The Academy is a platform for advocacy and collective action in addressing public health challenges and opportunities.

The Academy of Preventive Medicine is committed to a health care that is available to all, free at the point of use, and based on need, not the ability to pay. We believe that health care is an integral part of a Big Society, reflecting the social solidarity of shared access to collective healthcare, and a shared responsibility to use resources effectively to deliver better health.

For universal health coverage to be effective and sustainable, health services must be organized in an integrated fashion, with quality and innovative primary health care delivering the vast majority of care, thus stewarding critical health resources, utilizing innovative patient-centered technologies and enabling progressive realization of coverage.

Health care system must be accountable to patients, free from excessive bureaucracy and top-down control. People must be at the heart of primary health care through an information revolution and greater choice and control helped by easy access to the information they need. They must be in charge of making decisions about their care that is focused on outcomes, quality standards, safety, and improved patient experience and outcomes for all.

Health care must be transparent, with clear accountabilities for quality and results, efficient and dynamic, with a radically smaller national, regional and local bureaucracy, standing on stable and sustainable footing, free from frequent and arbitrary political meddling.

We must reinvent primary health care on an entirely new platform using digital and other technologies of 21 century. Use of mobile health applications and wearable devices are revolutionizing healthcare by becoming mainstream tools to assist patients in self-monitoring and decision-making, and subsequently, driving a shift toward a care model increasingly centered on personal adoption and use of digital technologies and web-based tools. Widespread use of digital platforms could help improve patient engagement and outcomes as well as promote cooperation, sharing, and caring for community members. Opportunities provided by artificial intelligence, personalized medicine, big data and other innovations must not be underestimated in achieving the abovementioned goals and be embraced by stakeholders, including primary healthcare providers. This represents a modern paradigm shift from egocentric model where medical knowledge belongs to a doctor to ecosystemic model when it becomes available to any person who wants to make informed decision about his/her own health.

The Academy is involved in the coordination of healthcare organizations, government agencies, private organizations, and educational institutions to improve the efficiency of health care provision, medical education, and healthcare management.

The Academy of Preventive Medicine has a track record in organizing important health-related national events, trainings and surveys in Kazakhstan. Over the last twenty years, the Academy experts have been involved and implemented the following projects:

  1. Assessing the economic efficiency of healthcare programs funded by Kazakhstan Ministry of Health.

  2. 1995 Demographic and Health Survey funded by US Agency for International Development. The 1995 DHS survey was based on a nationally representative sample of 4,800 households and covered many issues of reproductive health, childhood illnesses, and nutrition. The Academy organized a national seminar with more than 100 participants to present and disseminate the results of the survey.

  3. 1999 Demographic and Health Survey funded by US Agency for International Development. The 1999 DHS survey was based on a nationally representative sample of 4,800 households and covered many issues of reproductive health, childhood illnesses, and nutrition. The Academy organized a national seminar with more than 150 participants to present and disseminate the results of the survey.

  4. In 2012 the Academy conducted a nationally representative household health survey in Kazakhstan covering 10,000 respondents. The survey was funded by the World Bank and Kazakhstan Health Ministry and covers many health-related issues, including access to healthcare services, adult health, lifestyle questions.

  5. The Academy developed and implemented the national telemedicine network program by providing technology and training in more than 50 rural telemedicine sites.

  6. One of important areas of concentration is publishing. The Academy is responsible for the content development of www.zdrav.kz, which is one of the most advanced Russian and Kazakh language websites on health and disease prevention.

  7. The Academy has conducted numerous training sessions on a number of health-related topics, including evidence-based medicine, clinical research, healthcare management, nutrition, health information technologies.

One of important area of activities of the Academy of Preventive Medicine is consolidation of efforts of academic healthcare organizations of Kazakhstan. The Academy’s role is to create knowledge, foster collaboration, and promote change to help members succeed. It supports evidence-based medicine and development of clinical protocols for diagnosis and treatment.

The Academy of Preventive Medicine offers an array of performance improvement products and services. Powerful databases provide comparative data in clinical, operational, faculty practice management, financial, patient safety, and supply chain areas. The Academy’s programs offer opportunities for knowledge sharing and education, allow members from across Kazakhstan to share information and demonstrate the power of collaboration.

Thanks to the powerful voice of its outstanding members, among whom are the Kazakhstan’s most influential and respected healthcare managers, physicians and researchers, the Academy is now able to present its views of national priorities and to affect legislation and policy making at international, national and local levels. Because of reputation and contacts the Academy has the unique ability to advocate in a positive manner among Kazakhstan’s government agencies and non-governmental organizations and businesses on various health-related issues.

The Academy plans to play important role in international arena and is aspired to establish strategic alliances with international organizations, such as the World Health Organization and to become a members of the World Federation of Public Health Association and International Association of National Public Health Institutes. Such international partnerships will help to catalyze support for and investment in the national public health system and optimization of delivery of core public health functions.

Almaz Sharman, President, Academy of Preventive Medicine
Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, 66 Klochkov st, office 601
+7 (727) 317-8855
academypm@outlook.com