The “Second Regional Conference on One Health for the Central Asian Countries” was held in Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan, on August 16-17, 2011. This event was conducted within the implementation of the Central Asian Regional «One health» project/ The planned event were attended by representatives of the ministries of health and agriculture of four Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), Departments of state sanitary controls, Committees for veterinary services as well as representatives of consulting companies Landell Mills (UK), AFC Consulting (Germany) and concerned international organization: FAO UN, OIE, WHO, CDC and other organizations. Also the representatives from the Republic of Turkmenistan participated on the Conference.

On April 28-29, 2011 the 1st Regional Conference was conducted in Almaty, Kazakhstan in the frame of Central Asian Regional One Health Project. The experience gained in the area of infectious diseases counteraction, in particular, zoonotic diseases, both worldwide and in Central Asia shows effectiveness of regional initiatives that require integration and harmonization of efforts both at the inter-agency level in each country and at the regional level in general. Central Asian Regional One Health Project is implemented by the World Bank grant funds, the recipient of which is Eurasian Economical Community. The Project aims at organization and conduction of activities in public health and veterinary services in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The main activity of the Project focuses on achievement of key goals and realization of priority directions of Regional Public Health Platform. Planned period of the Project completion is September 2011. Project implementation is entrusted to Regional Project Management Unit located in Almaty and National offices in member countries.

On April 5th, 2011 round table meeting was conducted in Kaz-zhol hotel in Almaty, Kazakhstan with the participation of the international experts involved in carrying out 3 separate studies within the scope of Central Asia Regional One Health Project financed out of multi-donor Avian & Human Influenza Trust Fund. Meeting was organized by Regional Project Management Unit with the aim to synergize and better plan project activities of the Regional One Health Project. The main objective of the meeting was to inform team members on the work schedule and key deliverable expected in each project participating country. The meeting is used as a ground for joint planning between the Client - Regional Project Management Unit and Consultants - Landell Mills and AFC Consulting.

Today, on March 9, 2011 the Grant agreement (Regional One Health Project) between the World Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Eurasian Economic Community (AHI GRANT 098346) has been signed in Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan. One of the conditions specified as the effectiveness condition of the Grant Agreement is signing of the Project Implementation Agreement between EAEC (Eurasian economic Community) and RPMU. Zakir Kadirov, Executive Director for the RPMU and Murat Musataev, Deputy Director General for the EAEC signed Project Implementation Agreement between EAEC and RPMU today on March 9, 2011. It is another step towards improving the regional cooperation in the area of Public Health in Central Asia through the existing political structures, said Zakir Kadirov on the press conference that held right after the signing procedure. Based on the agreement the implementation of the Project was entrusted to RPMU. Signing of the Grant Agreement (Regional One Health Project) marked the start up of the new Project, activities of which are designed as a core element of the Central Asia (CA) Regional Health Platform, which has been initiated under the Central Asia AIDS Control Project (CAAP).

On December 3, 2010 in Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan the Final Conference on the subject “Five years of work on HIV prevention in Central Asia, experiences and way forward” have been conducted. The representatives of Ministries of Health of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Directors of AIDS Centers, representatives from partner governmental and non governmental organizations were attended in this event.

In the frame of the joint activity of CAAP and CDC specialists related to organization of the survey on “Evaluation of safe injection practice and catheterization of vessels in Central Asian countries” on September 6-8, 2010 a regular country National workshop on the survey preparation was conducted: “Injection safety in health care facilities and introduction of the injection safety evaluation tool at the national level in the Kyrgyz Republic”. During a three-day workshop, 21 specialists were provided with training on the survey method (11 Epidemiologists and 10 Nurses). The workshop included a visit to Central Rayon Hospital for the purpose of providing training for surveyors on the staff questioning method, observation over medical procedures conduction, questionnaires filling up.

On June 15-17, 2010 a regional seminar on migration and HIV issue was carried out for the staff of the governmental services of the Central Asian region. The seminar was conducted within the activities of the Regional Training Center on Migration and HIV issues under the Regional Project of IOM “HIV prevention among labor migrants in Central Asian countries” funded by the Central Asia AIDS Control Project (CAAP). The goal of the seminar was to improve the government agencies employees’ understanding of correlation between migration and HIV, vulnerability of migrants to HIV infection and their role in prevention among labor migrants, as well as their interaction with NGOs in this area. The seminar was attended by 15 representatives of the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan – Chief and Head Specialists of the Ministries of Labor, Transport and Communications, staff of migration services.

On June 1-2, 2010 at the initiative of Milli Mejlis of Azerbaijan Republic the 5th Interparliamentary conference of Central Asia countries and Azerbaijan on HIV and AIDS took place in Baku, Azerbaijan. The conference was dedicated to the exchange of experience on improvement of HIV and AIDS-related legislation during the past year. Discussions were directed on the results of the agreements achieved in the framework of 4th Interparliamentary conference on elimination of legislative barriers in implementing harm reduction programs in Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan, which took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in 2009.

A two-day regional conference on results of implementation of HIV epidemiological surveillance in the countries of Central Asia with participation of over 100 specialists took place on May 18-19, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. This event was organized at the initiative of the Ministry of Health of Republic of Kazakhstan with the technical support from the Central Asia AIDS Control Project and Global Fund’s HIV Prevention Project in Kazakhstan.

Regional seminar for religious leaders of the Central Asia countries took place in Almaty on April 27-29, 2010. The overall objective of this event was directed on strengthening of leadership skills of religious leaders and application of the obtained knowledge on HIV prevention in their further engagement with the population subsequently. The regional seminar was attended by 18 participants, mainly the imam-khatib, mudarrises (teachers) of Islamic educational institutions of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and also representatives of Central Administrative Management on Religious Affairs of the Ministry of Culture of Republic of Tajikistan. Training participants have exchanged experience of carrying out khutbah (sermon) in the jamaat (communities) and mudarrises (studies in educational institutions), and also interpretation of Islam.