ADDRESSING THE GROWING BURDEN OF NCDS: RETURN TO ALMA-ATA AND PRIMARY HEALTHCARE APPROACH

Last year was the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Alma-Ata. The conference organized by WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund proclaimed the ambitious goal - Health for All by the Year of 2000 and introduced the Primary Health Care approach that was considered as the means to achieve the goal. At the same time, some authors think that the main Alma-Ata deficiency was the fault to clearly define the difference between primary medical care and PHC approach, which involves universal coverage, inter-sectoral collaboration, community-based curative and preventive services. This short report discusses the excessive alcohol consumption and its dynamics throughout years in Kazakhstan and other post USSR countries, linking it to high rates of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) within these countries. It also emphasizes the importance of intersectoral approach in tackling excessive alcohol consumption that may well lead to an improved management of NCDs.