This report details the dramatic transformation undergone by the health systems of five newly independent countries – Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – beginning in 1994 with the assistance of USAID, Abt Associates, and others.  

These countries had to cope with the reality of a post-Soviet world in which Moscow’s financial and administrative support abruptly ended. They needed to transform not only the structure of their health systems – which over-relied on hospitals and specialist physicians – but also in the very way that they thought about health care.

With USAID as a catalyst, this positive transformation has occurred. The institutions, processes, and the citizens of Central Asia have evolved to a degree that would have been difficult to imagine back in 1994. For example, maternal and infant mortality rates, often considered a barometer of a nation’s health, have decreased dramatically. For more details, read the report.

Read more about the report and an Aug. 17 event at which USAID, Abt Associates, and others discussed 20 years of health systems transformation in Central Asia.