Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Central Asian countries are moving from developing the One Health approach to practical implementation: launching digital epidemiological surveillance systems, modernizing laboratories, creating interagency mechanisms, and preparing for joint responses to cross-border threats. In Uzbekistan, electronic monitoring already covers 102 infectious diseases, while more than 1,000 specialists have been trained to work with the new system.
The Second Regional One Health Conference is taking place in Bishkek on September 14–15, bringing together representatives of all five Central Asian countries, international organizations, and the scientific community.
While earlier stages of regional work largely focused on creating coordination mechanisms and planning, the emphasis is now shifting toward implementation. Priorities include the prevention of zoonotic infections, containment of antimicrobial resistance, food safety, laboratory modernization, digitalization of epidemiological surveillance, and cross-border data exchange. Organizers themselves describe the conference as marking a transition from program development to practical implementation.
The regional dimension is critical. Infectious threats do not stop at national borders, while the health, veterinary, and environmental monitoring systems of the five countries are developing at different speeds and rely on different technical solutions.
The next stage of the program, therefore, is not simply to strengthen each national system individually, but to gradually connect them.
Uzbekistan: 102 Infections Covered by an Electronic Monitoring System
One of the most notable changes in Uzbekistan has been the digitalization of epidemiological surveillance.
Since October 2025, infectious diseases detected among the population have been entered into the Electronic Information System for Monitoring Infectious Diseases, or ISEMIZ. The system covers 102 types of infectious diseases, while routine epidemiological surveillance is conducted across all regions of the country. In Tashkent and Bukhara, both sentinel and routine surveillance are carried out in parallel.
According to data presented by the Uzbek delegation at the conference, with technical support from WHO, more than 1,000 employees of primary healthcare facilities and the sanitary and epidemiological service have been trained to work with ISEMIZ. At the same time, cooperation with veterinary, environmental, and emergency-response agencies is being strengthened.
Regional rapid-response centers have also been established, while a National One Health Action Plan was adopted in November 2025. In the broader regional framework, Uzbekistan is currently in Phase 2 of the program and already has a national multisectoral working group in place.
This matters because the practical meaning of One Health lies precisely in bringing together information that may previously have existed in separate institutional silos: data on human disease, animal health, and environmental risk factors.
Kyrgyzstan Launches the Investment Phase
One of the central events of the conference was the launch of the national One Health component in Kyrgyzstan.
The total financing package for the Kyrgyz project amounts to $31.79 million, of which approximately $10.4 million is allocated to the Ministry of Health. The funding is aimed at strengthening epidemiological security, modernizing laboratory services, and improving interagency cooperation. The Phase 1 financing agreements were ratified by law on March 30, 2026.
Practical implementation already includes specialist training, the development of national coordination mechanisms, and work to strengthen preparedness for public health emergencies.
Cross-border cooperation is another major area of focus. On September 9, representatives of all five Central Asian countries took part in the remote CARAVAN 2026 exercise, which tested intersectoral cooperation, risk assessment, information exchange, and coordinated decision-making in response to zoonotic threats.
The next step will be a practical test of cooperation directly across a national border: Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are preparing a separate bilateral, in-person cross-border exercise.
Kazakhstan Is Building an Integrated Biological Security System
Kazakhstan is also moving the One Health approach into its national regulatory and digital infrastructure.
In March 2026, the approach was formally incorporated into the state Concept for Healthcare Development. Priority infectious threats identified under this framework include Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, plague, brucellosis, anthrax, foodborne infections, and a number of emerging diseases.
At the same time, work is underway on a state information system for biological security. Kazakhstan has mapped existing systems and begun developing an integrated, intersectoral epidemiological surveillance system.
This reflects one of the broader regional trends: digitalization is gradually moving beyond simply converting national reporting into electronic form and is beginning to address interaction between different sectors.
Tajikistan: Laboratory Results Are Now Delivered 30% Faster
Tajikistan illustrates another dimension of practical implementation: strengthening laboratory capacity against the backdrop of significant cross-border vulnerability.
The country has identified 21 priority diseases for laboratory diagnosis, including Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, anthrax, brucellosis, rabies, plague, and avian influenza.
Tajikistan also has 34 border crossing points with Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Its border with Afghanistan alone stretches for 1,340 kilometers, while border areas are considered particularly vulnerable to the transmission of zoonotic diseases between wild and domestic animals.
Against this backdrop, more than 300 specialists have received training in biosafety and disease diagnostics, while an additional 120+ laboratory specialists have been trained in outbreak response and sample handling.
According to the country presentation, laboratory turnaround time has been reduced by 30%. Six bacteriological laboratories have introduced EUCAST standards, while five hospitals submitted antimicrobial-resistance data to the CAESAR network for the first time.
The next challenge is to connect this laboratory progress with digital intersectoral data exchange and stronger cross-border coordination.
Turkmenistan Focuses on Laboratories and Antimicrobial Resistance
In Turkmenistan, one of the most visible areas of progress has been the modernization of laboratory infrastructure.
Laboratories in Ashgabat, Arkadag, and the country’s velayats have already received 40 refrigerators, 20 freezers, eight ELISA systems, and a microbiological incubator. Another 50 microscopes, 30 autoclaves, and 10 biosafety cabinets are currently being delivered.
At the same time, the country plans to transition toward international laboratory quality standards, including ISO 15189. In the area of antimicrobial resistance, the program предусматривает regular transmission of data to CAESAR and automated collection and analysis through the WHONET digital tool.
Between 2024 and August 2026, 1,231 epidemiologists and laboratory specialists received training.
Five National Systems Still Need to Be Connected Regionally
Behind these national-level results, a regional infrastructure is gradually taking shape.
The Regional One Health Secretariat already brings together the work of five countries and three key sectors: health, agriculture, and the environment. Its tasks include aligning priorities, conducting joint risk assessments, exchanging knowledge, and expanding interagency cooperation.
The next stage, however, is more complex than digitalization alone.
National systems are developing unevenly and are not always technically compatible. Oksana Kravtsova, coordinator of the regional One Health program, told UzDaily that despite clear progress within individual countries, the regional interoperability layer is still under development.
“The five countries are digitizing their epidemiological surveillance systems. At the national level, progress is real. But from my perspective as a coordinator, not a government representative, the regional interoperability layer is still being built,” Kravtsova said.
According to her, a technical working group on the regional laboratory strategy concluded in July 2026 that systems across the region are “not always compatible” and that fragmentation remains.
At the same time, the necessary elements are already being developed. The regional program includes stronger cross-border cooperation and laboratory interaction, joint simulation exercises, and the creation of the One Health in Central Asia platform for exchanging knowledge, data, and program results.
Kravtsova said the regional portal, expected to launch this year, will also include a cross-border alert mechanism.
Central Asia is therefore entering a stage in which the effectiveness of the One Health approach will be measured not by the number of strategies and working groups created, but by how quickly national systems can exchange information and respond jointly to emerging threats.
For Uzbekistan, this process has direct significance. The country has already created digital epidemiological surveillance infrastructure and is expanding intersectoral cooperation. The next step is to integrate these capabilities into a regional system in which information about a potential threat can cross a border faster than the infection itself.
