December 13, 2012, Almaty, Kazakhstan. Pr. Aikan Akanov, Rector of the Kazakh National Medical University (KazNMU), and Pr. Joseph Antoun, Chief Executive Officer of Health Systems Reform, signed a five-year agreement for strenghening KazNMU's School of Public Health. Under the vision and the bold leadership of Pr. Akanov, the School would become by 2017 a Center of Reference and Excellence in Central Asia.  

Recognizing the increasing burden of public health challenges in Kazakhstan and the critical need for strengthening public health education and research in Central Asia, the University aims at developing its professors' skills and knowledge as well as its students' education and training.  To achive these goals, HSR will, in collaboration with best international public health schools, train KazNMU trainers both in Kazakhstan,  US and EU.  HSR will also catalyze international research and training collaborations with leading international public health institutions.  

Training and collaborations would cover a range of public health disciplines including: health policy and health systems reform, primary and preventative care with a focus on chronic disease management, evidence based medicine, health systems management, leadership and governance in healthcare, health financing, economics, and insurance, environmental health and sustainability; behavioral sciences and social marketing, health technology assessment, modeling, and scenario planning. This partnership is a milestone within the 2017 strategy and for fullfiling KazNMU's educational and social role of improving the health status of the citizens of Kazakhstan.