WHO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan, has officially released the nationally adapted version of the WHO Pocket Book of Primary Health Care for Children and Adolescents, marking a major step forward in strengthening child and adolescent services at the primary health-care (PHC) level.
The WHO Pocket Book is a comprehensive and practical tool that supports doctors, nurses and other PHC professionals in delivering high-quality, evidence-based care. It covers health promotion, routine health checks, disease prevention, early childhood interventions and adolescent counselling – ensuring that every contact with families becomes an opportunity to support healthy growth and development.
“The adaptation of the WHO Pocket Book is an important step towards strengthening primary health care and enhancing the competencies and skills of frontline health workers. Together with WHO, we have developed a unified, modern and practical tool that supports confident and effective decision-making at every stage of child care. Our priority is ensuring that every family in Kazakhstan has access to high-quality, evidence-based and affordable services that foster healthy development for the next generation,” said Akmaral Alnazarova, Minister of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Global evidence and local needs
To tailor the Pocket Book to the Kazakhstani context, a multidisciplinary national working group was convened in 2024–2025 under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and with support from WHO. The group included 30 national and regional PHC coordinators, experts from leading medical universities and specialists in areas such as psychiatry, paediatric obstetrics and gynaecology, traumatology and neonatology.
Over the course of several months, the working group conducted a detailed review of the Pocket Book, aligning it with Kazakhstan’s existing clinical protocols, regulatory requirements and service delivery structure. The adaptation process drew on close collaboration with the WHO Office on Quality of Care and Patient Safety (Athens, Greece) and a designated WHO external expert, ensuring that the national version remained true to global evidence and standards while reflecting local needs.
The adapted guide is now publicly available on the official website of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“The national working group has carried out extensive work to integrate all agreed recommendations into the Kazakhstani regulatory and service delivery context. Completion of the adaptation and launch of the final version makes it possible to formally introduce the guide to the medical community and initiate its implementation in practice. WHO is proud to have supported Kazakhstan on this journey,” said Dr Skender Syla, WHO Representative in Kazakhstan.
This work was supported by the LEGO Foundation as part of the national project “Supporting scale-up of evidence-based parenting interventions through the health and multisectoral systems”.
Regional commitment
Kazakhstan’s adaptation of the Pocket Book comes against the backdrop of increased momentum to strengthen child and adolescent health across the entire WHO European Region.
In October 2025, all 53 Member States in the Region adopted a new strategy to improve the health and well-being of children and adolescents across Europe and Central Asia.
“A healthy start for a healthy life: a strategy for child and adolescent health and well-being in the WHO European Region 2026–2030”, developed jointly with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), sets a clear vision for a Region where every child and adolescent can grow, learn and thrive in good health – physically, mentally and socially.
The new strategy calls on countries to strengthen health systems and social policies that support children and families from the very beginning. It urges governments to ensure accessible and inclusive maternity services, promote early childhood development and preventive health care and provide comprehensive and high-quality services tailored to the specific needs of children and adolescents.
It also emphasizes the importance of protecting children from harm, including exposure to violence, commercial exploitation, unhealthy products and the potential negative effects of social media. Creating safe physical, social and digital environments is a central pillar of the plan, which will have strong and inclusive PHC at its heart.
The Pocket Book is a key tool for PHC practitioners to ensure that children and young people’s first entry point into the health system promotes comprehensive health across conditions and settings.