Kyrgyzstan

Through the Programmatic Partnership with the European Union, the Red Crescent Society of Kyrgyzstan (RCSK), with support from IFRC, has set up community-based surveillance in two regions of the country: Talas and Jalal-Abad. It’s the first agency in the country to use this approach to contribute to national disease surveillance.

In the mountainous region of Talas, northern Kyrgyzstan, 60+ Kyrgyz Red Crescent volunteers were trained in 2024 to detect and report signs of five of the most widely spread diseases in the area. 

Three diseases in humans:

• Hepatitis A
• Measles
• Acute respiratory infection

And two diseases in animals:

• Anthrax
• Rabies

Volunteers also look out for and report any unusual animal deaths they detect.

“If volunteers see something unusual whilst out conducting risk communication activities within their communities, they send an SMS alert to their supervisor. Then the case is reported to the nearest medical or veterinary centre, at which point a doctor or veterinarian comes out to investigate. If volunteers don’t notice anything during their regular visits, they also send what’s called a ‘zero report’ via SMS. This confirms that the situation is normal and no risk is detected,” explains Gulnura Abdumanapova, Health Coordinator with RCSK.  

Between June 2024 and February 2025, seven alerts from trained Red Crescent volunteers were escalated to health authorities for investigation, resulting in the confirmation and quick response to five cases of acute respiratory infections, one case of Hepatitis A and one unusual animal death. 

Watch a short video about the CBS training.