Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on 11 March to improve the effectiveness of public health in the country.

In his Address to the Oliy Majlis in January of this year, the head of state identified priorities for improving public health.

In the domestic health care system, as noted at today’s meeting, the approach prevails in which more attention is paid not to prevention but to the treatment of diseases.

According to the World Health Organization, about 10 percent of human health is provided by medication, 15 percent depends on genetics, and the state of the environment affects 20 percent. Most importantly, in this ratio up to 55 percent of factors affecting human health are related to lifestyle (physical activity, nutrition, bad habits).

In this regard, the Ministry of Health, the Agency for Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare and the State Inspectorate for Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance were instructed to introduce, on the basis of international best practices, a completely new system of strengthening public health and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

It was noted that disease prevention should begin primarily from the countryside and carried out as part of a holistic system. For example, the consumption of contaminated water leads to the occurrence of diseases of the kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, food products with poor chemical composition - oncological diseases, unhealthy lifestyle - diseases of the cardiovascular, endocrine, nervous systems.

At the meeting, the task was set to deeply analyze these issues and establish targeted work on the basis of specific programs.

The spread of coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in the world to a certain extent causes concern among the population of Uzbekistan. Prevention of the penetration of this disease into our country, which seems to be testing the global public health system for strength, requires first of all to bring the work of the domestic health system to an even higher level, including in the direction of prevention.

In this regard, the Ministry of Health and the Agency for Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare have been given additional instructions regarding the quarantine and preventive measures taken.

The necessity of fixing the Agency for Sanitary and Epidemiological Well-being of the Center for the Support of a Healthy Lifestyle and Increasing the Physical Activity of the Population was pointed out, focusing the agency’s potential on the effective organization of solving these problems.

Separate agency centers will be organized in regions, districts and cities. To effectively organize this work, up to three specialists will be allocated in rural polyclinics. They will be engaged in the promotion of proper nutrition, improving the culture of public and personal hygiene among the villagers, identifying those who are at risk for cancer, cardiovascular diseases.

Rural medical stations are required to organize targeted medical examinations and examinations for infectious and non-communicable diseases. For example, after 40 years, the risks of heart attack, stroke, and diabetes increase, and for women older than 35 years, they are susceptible to cancer.

At the same time, the agency’s employees will make rounds at homes, educational and other institutions, promote the principles of proper nutrition, outdoor activities and physical education.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev gave the responsible persons relevant instructions for the development of a healthy life science and support for research institutes.

It is indicated that these institutions should analyze the factors and causes of diseases, develop appropriate recommendations, the agency should adopt and implement programs for each region.

Along with this, the readiness of research institutions to organize this work has been ascertained.

The corresponding research institute has only 13.5 staff units for research on nutrition, labor, adolescent hygiene, and the development of sanitary norms and rules.

The system of prevention and treatment of parasitic diseases, rickets and dystrophy among children is also ineffectively organized. These diseases cause significant harm to the immune system of the young organism and exacerbate its vulnerability to other diseases.

In this regard, the clinic of the Samarkand Research Institute of Medical Parasitology will be combined with the Research Institute of Epidemiology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. On their basis, the Republican Scientific and Practical Medical Center for Epidemiology, Microbiology, Infectious and Parasitic Diseases will be organized, which will combine medical and scientific activities.

The head of state drew attention to another important issue - the need for training specialists who will analyze the incidence factors and give prophylactic recommendations to treating doctors.

The importance of speeding up the opening of branches and clinics in the Russian Research Medical University named after N.I. Pirogov and the Turkish University of Bahcesehir was emphasized.

The meeting addressed in detail the issues of early detection, recording, analysis and statistics of infectious and noncommunicable diseases.

For example, out of about 24 thousand cases of malignant oncological diseases diagnosed in 2018, 55 percent were detected at the third and fourth stages. This means that every second such patient does not have a favorable prognosis for recovery.

In this regard, the need for the application of simple, but modern and effective methods for the prevention of diseases and the expansion of their implementation is indicated.

For example, elementary procedures for measuring weight, height, waist circumference, a survey on lifestyle will help to identify signs of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, hypertension and many other diseases in advance.

The meeting indicated the need to review the public health control system.

In particular, there is every reason to argue that the food safety system in our country is absent. For example, there is a categorical ban on the use of industrial palm oil in food, but the corresponding control mechanisms have not been implemented. At the same time, this ingredient poses a danger to human health, affects vital organs and leads to cancer.

On the issues discussed at the meeting, reports of responsible leaders were heard, appropriate measures were identified.