Core components of infection prevention and control programs at the facility level in Kazakhstan: key challenges and opportunities.

Background: Kazakhstan is developing a National Roadmap to strengthen its Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), but until recently has lacked a country-wide facility-level assessment of IPC performance gaps.

Methods: In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO)'s IPC Core Components and Minimal Requirements were assessed at 78 randomly selected hospitals across 17 administrative regions using adapted WHO tools. The study included site assessments, followed by structured interviews with 320 hospital staff, validation observations of IPC practices, and document reviews.