Russian Research Institute of Health hosted an introductory meeting of the CIS Network of Institutes for Public Health and Healthcare Digital Transformation

An introductory meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Network of Institutes for Public Health and Healthcare Digital Transformation was held at Russian Research Institute of Health (RIH). The meeting was attended by representatives from the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The participants discussed organizational and personnel issues, formed the Governing Council and elected the Chairman of the Institutes Network. In 2023, the Network will be chaired by the Kyrgyz Republic and co-chaired by the Russian Federation. RIH, as Designated Organization, will perform the functions of the Network Secretariat.

CIS experts discussed cooperation opportunities in the field of public health and healthcare digital transformation, expanding opportunities to improve the CIS member states’ population health.

Special attention was paid to implementation of the Strategy "Population Health of the CIS member states". There is a growing burden of non-communicable diseases worldwide, which are responsible for about 70 % of all adult deaths. In this regard, monitoring and analyzing the achievement of national target indicators for implementation of this document is under special control in the ministries of health of the Commonwealth States. This topic is included in the Work Plan, following which a report will be submitted to the CIS Health Cooperation Council members.

The Governing Council members have developed a Work Plan for the current year, with special attention to the issues of healthcare systems staffing and continuing medical education, digital health technologies, improving primary health care efficiency and a number of other topics.

Vladimir Ivanovich Starodubov, RIH Scientific Director, emphasized the need for cooperation and experience exchange between the CIS member states: "All our institutes perform similar tasks. Although the governance structure in our countries varies, the essence is that we are assistants to our founders. It’s largely thanks to our expert community that health policy in our countries is being developed. It is important to build our structure in such a way that our interaction facilitates realization of the plans that our states set."

RIH is the Secretariat of the CIS Network of Institutes for Public Health and Healthcare Digital Transformation, which was established in 2016 on RIH initiative for experience and technologies exchange in the field of public health and healthcare digital transformation. Participants of the Network include specialized institutes designated by the ministries of the CIS member states.