Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology

History of department

The Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology was established in 1994 under its original name – "General Hygiene with a Civil Defense Course".
It was initially founded on the basis of the Regional Sanitary and Epidemiological Station of South Kazakhstan Region under the leadership of the Chief Physician, Candidate of Medical Sciences B.K. Turgautov. That same year, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Zh.T. Turlybekov was specially invited from Almaty.
In February 1995, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor B.E. Altynbekov was appointed head of the department. Under his leadership, 2 doctoral and 9 candidate dissertations were defended, and top-tier public health specialists were trained for South Kazakhstan, Kyzylorda, and Zhambyl regions.
In 2003, by decision of the State Attestation Commission, the department was reorganized as the "General Hygiene and Ecology" department.
In 2011, it was renamed to "Hygiene – 1", and in 2012, the departments of "Hygiene – 1" and "Physical Education" were merged into the department of "Hygiene – 1, Physical Education and Valeology".
On September 1, 2016, with the addition of the subject "Epidemiology" and the decision of the Academic Council, the department was renamed to "Hygiene – 1 and Epidemiology".
According to the decision of the Academic Council dated August 31, 2017, and rector’s order №241p, the departments "Hygiene – 1 and Epidemiology" and "Hygiene – 2" were merged into the current "Hygiene and Epidemiology" department.
Since 2025, the head of the "Hygiene and Epidemiology" department at South Kazakhstan Medical Academy JSC is PhD, Acting Professor Dariyana Muratovna Kulmirzaeva.
Currently, the department staff includes 13 teachers and 3 laboratory assistants, including: 2 professors, 6 associate professors, and 4 senior lecturers with master degree.

Tasks of the department:

- to improve the scientific and qualification category of teachers and public health specialists;
- strengthen the material and educational and technical base of the department;
- to develop the development of modern teaching methods of teaching and student science.

Basic training courses:

Epidemiology
State sanitary and epidemiological supervision
Ecology and sustainable development
General hygiene
Radiation hygiene and medical ecology
Private epidemiology with the basics of disinfection
Labor protection
Occupational hygiene
Hygiene of children and adolescents
Communal hygiene
Food hygiene
Clinical epidemiology
Health promotion and disease prevention

Disciplines of the department are taught in three languages: Kazakh, Russian, English.

Scientific priorities of the department:

1. Improvement of social and hygienic monitoring and integrated assessment of the effectiveness of prevention programs for environmentally caused diseases of the population in the area of large-scale lead production;
2. Study of physical development and health status of children and adolescents in modern conditions;
3. Studying the influence of environmental factors on the health of the population in modern conditions.

In 1980-1997 - studied at the Karaganda State Medical Institute, at the Sanitary and Hygienic Faculty, specialty «Hygiene, sanitation, epidemiology».
1997-2000 studied at the postgraduate school «Institute of Physiology and Occupational Hygiene» of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan and completed scientific work on the topic «Working conditions, morbidity and development of criteria for professional selection of doctors of surgical profile» and in 2001 was awarded the scientific degree of Candidate of Medical Sciences in the specialty epidemiology.
The total work experience in the specialty is 34 years, including 16 years of scientific and pedagogical activity. Since 2020, he has been the head of the Department of «Hygiene and Epidemiology» of the South Kazakhstan Medical Academy. In scientific and pedagogical activity, he conducts lectures and practical classes on the subject of epidemiology and hygiene sections, among undergraduate and graduate students of the Academy.
Under the guidance of Parkhat Dusembaevich, in 2017, a dissertation on the topic «Evaluation of the use of therapeutic and preventive immunization in the prevention of rabies» was defended in the specialty «Medicine», Shymkent city, SKMA and under the advice of 2015, a dissertation on the topic «Biological assessment of the properties of genetically modified body products» was defended in the specialty «Biology». 2017 in the specialty «Nursing» dissertation on the topic «Issues of complex rehabilitation in the post-stroke hospital period» Shymkent city, SKMA, and also in 2016, a dissertation on the topic «Conducting research and irrigation assessment of the chemical composition of industrial wastewater of the city of Shymkent» Almaty city, кaz journals of far and near abroad.
The post of the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 29.11.2016 was awarded the Jubilee Medal «25 years of independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan».