Introduction
At the crossroads between Europe and Asia, the countries of central Asia have been occupied over the last decade with the enormous challenges of establishingand stabilizing their states and societies and with claiming their place in the international community. Although the term ‘central Asia’ covers a wide region, we use it here to refer to the five countries of former Soviet central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (Figure 1.1). These central Asian republics gained their unexpected independence in 1991, upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Since these dramatic events, these five republics have received more attention from the international community, especially given the political and economic significance of the region. Because these health care systems are not well known outside their own countries, this book aims to describe and analyse them for a wider audience, both within and without the region. We do so for several reasons. First, policymakers within central Asia face enormous challenges in bringing about health
sector reform in an environment with extremely adverse macroeconomics and major internal economic and political changes. To assist them in reorganizing their health systems, these policy-makers need better information about their
own and other health care systems (as do policy-makers in developed countries). Second, the countries in the region are interested in the experiences of other countries, so that they can learn about what works and why, and which initiatives might transfer successfully across borders. Finally, those working for international organizations need to share more information and analysis on how and why health care systems work in these countries and on the impact of the many changes underway.