The "Francophonie Week" is the festival of the French language and cultures of the French-speaking countries, which is celebrated in the middle of March across the world. The organizers and partners have prepared a program for the broad public, which consists of 16 offline events and activities and 3 online webinars. This year, the festival will centre around questions on how to protect our planet and the environment.

French is the fifth language spoken in the world, the third language for business, used by more than 300 million people on five continents, and also is known as the language of diplomacy. 88 countries are members of the International Organization of Francophonie, in 29 of which French is the official language.

The Francophonie Week will be launched in Bishkek on March 23 with a public screening of the movie "Legacy / Notre Héritage" by the famous French photograph and environmentalist Yann-Arthus Bertrand, followed by an exchange with the latter, starting at 18:00 in Ala-Too Cinema (free entrance).  

The detailed program is presented below.

• French Alliance in Bishkek: Instagram;  Facebook
• French Embassy Kyrgyzstan: webpage; Facebook
• Swiss Embassy Kyrgyzstan: Instagram; Facebook

The competition started in February 2021 among primary health care organizations of Chui, Naryn, Talas and Issyk-Kul provinces to strengthen the work of the Quality Committees, which ensure qualitative primary health care to the population. 

The competition was held by the Ministry of Health in the framework of the Swiss project "Effective Management and Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases in Kyrgyzstan".

In total 28 Family Medicine Centers and Center of General Practice participated in the contest. Based on the results of the competition, 4 Family Medicine Centers and Centers of General Medical Practice will be awarded with the following prizes funded by Switzerland:

• Grand Prize – Niva car for visiting patients;
• 1st place – laptop and 50 tonometers;
• 2nd place – laptop and 30 tonometers;
• 3rd place – laptop and 15 tonometers.

These prizes will be used to improve quality of care in the health facilities. The car will be used for increasing access to the medical services by allowing family doctors to receive patients in remote villages.

The event will be attended by representatives of the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Swiss Embassy in the Kyrgyz Republic, the Mandatory Health Insurance Fund, as well as representatives of primary health care facilities and mass media.