From July 28 to August 24, 2021, the Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum Secretariat, which is operated by the Korea Foundation, hosted the Korea-Central Asia Experts’ Webinar on Infectious Diseases in collaboration with the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI). The series of consecutive webinars took place on July 28 (Kazakhstan), August 3 (Tajikistan), August 6 (Uzbekistan), and August 24 (Kyrgyzstan). The online seminar series was attended by about 630 health officials, professionals, and experts in the field of infectious diseases from Korea and the four participating Central Asian countries.

The webinar series was hosted as a follow-up measure to the 13th Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum held in Seoul in November 2020. The online event resulted from the Central Asian countries’ interest in cooperation in infectious disease treatment, and was tailored to the specific needs of each country in addressing key issues they are faced with. In their keynote speech at last year’s Forum, the foreign ministerial-level representatives of the five Central Asian member countries emphasized the importance of the health sector in the COVID-19 era, and expressed their wish to learn from South Korea’s experience in responding to the disease, including the training of experts in epidemic diseases and viruses; the introduction of epidemiological monitoring and an early prediction system; research on treatments; health professionals’ experience in treating infectious diseases; remote health services; and so forth.

The webinar series served as an occasion to share South Korea’s infectious disease management system, response to COVID-19, clinical treatment experience, and other topics with the Central Asian countries in a comprehensive and integrated way. In consideration of demand from each country’s health ministry, the online seminars were composed of presentations by and Q&A sessions with Professor Kwon Ki-tae of the Kyungpook National University Hospital (KNUH) on COVID-19 vaccines; Professor Choi Sun-ha of KNUH on clinical treatments for COVID-19; Professor Choi Eun-hwa of the Seoul National University Hospital on child patients’ characteristics and treatments for COVID-19; Professor Lee Jae-gap of the Hallym University Medical Center on the epidemiology of COVID-19; and Director Kim Seok-yeon of the Seoul Medical Center on public hospitals’ responses to COVID-19 and role-sharing.

In addition, Central Asian speakers talked about major issues related to their responses to infectious diseases. They included health ministry officials, experts in infectious diseases, and health professionals from the Ministry of Healthcare of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Tajikistan, the Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare and Public Health Service under the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan, and the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for the Control of Viral Infections of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Kyrgyz Republic. Deputy Chairperson Zaure Akhmetova of the Committee for Sanitary and Epidemiological Control of Kazakhstan said, “Cooperation with South Korea in the health and medical sector is very important, and a common global response is a must to the rapid end of the pandemic.” She added that the webinar had served as an opportunity to acquire useful information that could be used on-site in the medical sector.