Bishkek, 23 May 2025 – The Steering Committee of the joint programme “Bridging the Digital Health Divide,” supported by the Joint SDG Fund, convened at the Presidential Administration in Bishkek for the first time since the programme’s launch in September 2024. The meeting brought together government officials, UN partners, and stakeholders to review progress and endorse key governance and implementation tools that will guide the next phase of the programme.
Co-Chairs Mr. Azat Ibraimov, Director of the Situation Center for Management and Monitoring of the Implementation of Decisions of the President and the Cabinet of Ministers, and Ms. Antje Grawe, UN Resident Coordinator in the Kyrgyz Republic, opened the session by reaffirming a shared commitment to ensuring equitable access to healthcare, particularly for those living in remote and underserved areas. The Steering Committee formally adopted the programme’s governance structure and detailed implementation plan.
“The programme helps bridge the digital divide, strengthens system resilience, and creates the foundation for a more equitable and modern healthcare system. At the same time, we cannot allow pilot solutions to end with the conclusion of the project. The outcome of the programme should be scalable services integrated into a unified digital health ecosystem. National information systems must be developed domestically, under national ownership, and be both technically and institutionally sustainable,” said Mr.Azat Ibraimov welcoming the participants of the meeting.
“Digital health is about leaving no one behind,” Ms. Grawe emphasized. “Our goal is to ensure that everyone — a person with disability in Batken, a midwife or a doctor in Naryn, or a pensioner in Ak-Suu — has access to digital tools to deliver or receive quality healthcare services enabled by digital innovation”
Led by the UN Resident Coordinator and implemented by WHO (as lead agency), UNDP, UNFPA, and UNICEF, the Joint Programme aligns with Kyrgyzstan’s Concept of Digital Transformation (2024–2028) and its Digital Health Care target model Sanarip MED (2025–2027). These national strategies aim to modernize and digitize health systems across the country, reinforcing the government’s commitment to accessible, efficient, and inclusive healthcare.
In its first nine months, the programme has already made significant strides. WHO led efforts to establish national digital health standards. UNDP contributed to reforms in social protection and the disability certification process. UNFPA worked to expand access to digital maternal health services, while both UNFPA and UNICEF focused on extending telemedicine infrastructure across the country.
Among the programme’s key early achievements is the integration of the national immunization system with newborn and patient records via a unified digital platform. A new tool has been launched to help health workers plan vaccinations more effectively, using real-time data from national health databases. The programme also introduced a fairer, more efficient system for disability assessment and modernized the national laboratory system, resulting in faster, more accurate, and transparent medical testing.
The joint programme is funded through the Joint SDG Fund’s Digital Transformation Window, with financial support from the European Union, Spain, Norway, and other Member States. Kyrgyzstan is one of only 13 countries worldwide selected to receive this catalytic funding to accelerate digital inclusion and sustainable development.
Note:
All joint programmes of the Joint SDG Fund are led by UN Resident Coordinators and implemented by the agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations development system. With sincere appreciation for the contributions from the European Union and Governments of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and our private sector funding partners, for a transformative movement towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.
