Social responsibility

NU COVID-19 Solidarity Initiative

NU COVID-19 Solidarity Initiative is a project initiated and supported by Nazarbayev University and a number of its faculty and staff who were eager to help by various means to fight the pandemic in order to express solidarity with the people of Kazakhstan.

NU COVID-19 Solidarity Initiative is raising its own funds to support the frontline healthcare workers and their families. The collected funds are allocated to provide necessary aid to medical centers in different regions of the country. To date, 146,000 medical masks, 150 plastic face shields, 5 pneumatic sprays, 100 non-contact thermometers, 1000 FFP2 respirators, 1,600 protective suits have been purchased for the hospitals in the cities of Nur-Sultan, Kyzylorda, Shymkent, Turkestan, and Taraz. 

In addition to this initiative, NU students and graduates, despite the risks in a pandemic, are actively helping healthcare workers as volunteers. They provide personal protective equipment and food. With the contributions by many volunteers, hundreds of families from socially vulnerable groups have received support. All the updates and reports are available in open access.

Initiatives of the NU Social Development Fund 

During the state of emergency, the Fund has been providing financial support to student volunteers of the Medical University Astana, who were involved in the fight against coronavirus infection. In partnership with the National Volunteer Network, the Fund has provided computers to 100 children of nurses and paramedics, including those from the multi-child families in the cities of Almaty, Aktobe and Kyzylorda regions, Pavlodar, Kokshetau, Shymkent, and Temirtau. (Read more here).

Information support on coronavirus infection for healthcare workers  

In light of the widespread challenges for local doctors in keeping up-to-date and verifying information about the latest advances in COVID-19 treatment from around the world,  graduates of NU, in cooperation with practicing doctors, Ph.D. students, students of Kazakhstani and international universities, and translators (90 people in total) have launched a telegram channel t.me/medsupportkz, where they provide informational support to doctors. The project is primarily aimed at informing medical workers that treat the patients with COVID-19 about current scientific publications, new data, scientific articles, and reviews. The launch of the project was initiated due to a significant increase of patients with the sequela requiring emergency care due to their self-treatment based on fake protocols and “recommendations”. There are more than 5000 subscribers to the channel now, almost half of them are the practicing doctors who now have an opportunity to get acquainted with the translations of the latest studies and protocols for treating the virus in different countries and other important information posted on the channel.

Face shields

The technicians of the NU Machine shop have arranged the 3D printing of protective face shields made of plastic that cover the face and thereby protect the mucous membrane of the eye, respiratory tract, and the face itself from dust and mechanical particles and drops of biological and chemical substances splashes. A few batches of the face shields produced at NU have already been donated to several hospitals of the country.