{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,16]],"date-time":"2026-09-16T06:05:01Z","timestamp":1789538701990,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,16]],"date-time":"2026-09-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789516800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Central Asia comprising Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, confronts a complex array of health challenges shaped by the post-Soviet transition, including fragmented health systems, a dual burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, environmental degradation, healthcare inequality, and competing geopolitical influences. Public health diplomacy has emerged as a critical instrument for addressing these transnational challenges.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This scoping review aimed to map and synthesize the existing evidence to examine the role of public health diplomacy in strengthening health governance and regional and international health cooperation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Following the Arksey and O\u2019Malley scoping review framework, this paper used a systematic search of PubMed, and Google Scholar. Studies published between 2000 and 2025 addressing health diplomacy, health governance, cross-border cooperation, or health system reform in Central Asia were included. Data was extracted using a standardized charting form and synthesized through descriptive and narrative thematic analysis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria. Kazakhstan was the most extensively studied country (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f4), followed by Uzbekistan (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f2), Kyrgyzstan (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f1), and Tajikistan (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f1). No country-specific study addressed Turkmenistan. Key findings revealed: (i) all five countries continue to navigate the post-Soviet health transition with uneven progress toward UHC; (ii) significant intra-national healthcare inequalities persist, particularly in Kazakhstan\u2019s rural areas; (iii) environmental health threats including transboundary water pollution, industrial contamination, and household air pollution, demand coordinated diplomatic responses; (iv) the European Union uses health as a soft-power instrument, while China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative and the SCO represent expanding but under-evaluated platforms for health cooperation; (v) Russia\u2019s influence persists through institutional legacies and migrant health governance; (vi) centralized, top-down health communication hinders public trust across the region; and (vii) no health diplomacy training program exists for Central Asia. The strongest SDG 3 alignment was with target 3.8 UHC, while maternal mortality, child health, and substance abuse targets remained unexamined through a PHD lens.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Public health diplomacy has significant potential to strengthen health governance and regional cooperation in Central Asia. Advancing this agenda requires stronger regional collaboration, context-specific capacity building, greater evidence generation, and systematic evaluation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1926850","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,16]],"date-time":"2026-09-16T05:33:05Z","timestamp":1789536785000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Public health diplomacy in Central Asia: a scoping review"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Ashish","family":"Joshi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health, University of Memphis","place":["Memphis, TN, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nishtha","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health, University of Memphis","place":["Memphis, TN, United 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University","place":["Dushanbe, Tajikistan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sukhrob","family":"Saliev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Westminster International University in Tashkent","place":["Tashkent, Uzbekistan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ainash A.","family":"Sharshenova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health, International Higher School of Medicine","place":["Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"Sarria-Santamera","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Nazarbayev University","place":["Astana, 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