The Institute of Health and Strategic Development is established

The center for promoting a healthy lifestyle and increasing physical activity among the population will undergo reorganization and become the Institute of Health and Strategic Development. The President has signed the decree titled "On Measures to Further Improve the Activities of the Ministry of Health."

Starting from January 1, 2024, employees of the institute and its regional divisions will receive compensation, financial incentives, and social protection equal to that of employees in the Ministry of Health and its regional management bodies.

The main objectives of the institute are as follows:

1. Development and implementation of programs to promote a healthy lifestyle, combat and prevent non-communicable diseases.
2. Development and implementation of comprehensive measures to promote a healthy lifestyle, combat harmful habits, and foster a robust medical culture within the population.
3. Development of evidence-based recommendations for the priority directions of healthcare system activities, medium-term and long-term development scenarios and strategies based on advanced and internationally accepted best practices.
4. Compilation and maintenance of medical statistics, development of proposals for the adoption of international standards and methodologies in the formation of statistical indicators, and improvement of processes related to the collection, processing, summarization, analysis, distribution, and storage of statistical data in the field of medicine.

The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the institute, will develop a program for promoting a healthy lifestyle and systematically popularizing proper nutrition over a two-month period from 2024 to 2026. This program includes the following components:

1. Production of up to 25 promotional videos, programs, and TV shows annually to encourage a healthy lifestyle.
2. Sending daily short messages (SMS) to mobile phone users containing information on disease prevention and healthy living.
3. Annual "Healthy Lifestyle Promoter of the Year" competition among journalists and other representatives of the press.
4. Displaying videos promoting a healthy lifestyle, providing radio advice, and distributing booklets in markets, airplanes, trains, buses, subways, supermarkets, and other public places.