Keys to Expanding the Rural Healthcare Workforce in Kyrgyzstan.

This study assessed Kyrgyzstan's progress with developing its rural primary care workforce and prioritized next steps to build on its current momentum. Kyrgyzstan has improved rural health care since 1997 through the implementation of family medicine, retraining of rural doctors and nurses, and other efforts. Attrition, emigration, urbanization, and population growth are threatening these hard-won advances.

The emergence of family medicine in Kyrgyzstan.

Background And Objectives: In post-Soviet Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan has emerged as the leader in family medicine reform. This paper examines the factors that have allowed family medicine to become the foundation of primary care and the rationale for retraining specialists in primary care.

Methods: Critical elements of successful family medicine reform have included national policy, international cooperation, training programs, support structures, and quality measures.