Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a meeting with Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus via videoconference.
During the talks, the sides discussed prospects for strengthening cooperation between Kazakhstan and WHO, including in countering the coronavirus pandemic.
Highly commending the level of Kazakhstan’s interaction with WHO, the President welcomed Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s opening remarks at the World Health Assembly, in which he called for increasing global efforts to vaccinate against COVID-19, so that by September 2021 at least 10% of the world’s population will be vaccinated, and by the end of the year by 30%.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev appreciated the WHO for the practical support of Kazakhstan for providing protective and medical equipment during the first difficult days of the outbreak.
The President informed Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus about the measures taken by Kazakhstan to tackle the coronavirus.
Special attention at online talks was paid to the vaccination process against COVID-19. President Tokayev told the WHO Director-General about the preliminary results of clinical trials of the Kazakh vaccine “QazVac, efficacy of which reached 96%. Currently, the relevant authorities have started the process of obtaining WHO approval for QazVac.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s efforts of in countering the pandemic.
“2 million vaccinated is a very important. Many countries have not yet reached that level. Your ambitious goals to have 55% of the population vaccinated by the end of this year is very good,” the WHO Head said.
The two parties also touched upon the prospects for the development of Primary Health Care policy, in particular, the promotion of the 2018 Astana Declaration on Primary Health Care. In this regard, President Tokayev called on WHO Director-General to support the Kazakh initiative to draft a Political Resolution on Primary Health Care, which can be adopted during the United Nation’s General Assembly in 2022. The resolution includes the commitments of the Astana Declaration and Operational Framework on Primary Health Care.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also suggested Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to implement a WHO “One Health” pilot project in Kazakhstan to improve the capacity building for Central Asia’s experts with an eye to creating Regional Center for Disease Control and Biosafety.
President Tokayev and WHO Director-General Dr. Ghebreyesus agreed to continue close cooperation in order to jointly overcome the pandemic’s challenges. The Head of State reaffirmed Kazakhstan’s readiness to endorse and promote WHO values and goals.
