Checking understanding

Answer the following questions

1. What typical negative effects do people blame stress for?

2. What are the possible benefits of stress mentioned in the article?

3. Who are more likely to suffer from health problems, according to Dr Kyriazis?

4. How can somebody recognize good stress from bad stress?

5. What evidence mentioned in the article contradicts the idea that short-term stress is healthy?

Phrases in the text

Match the words on the left with expressions on the right to form appropriate phrases

1. prevent an illness (= to suddenly cause an illness to start)

2. blame brain cells (= to provide brain cells with what they need to grow and stay healthy)

3. nourish diseases (= to stop diseases from happening)

4. precipitate stress (= to say that stress is responsible)

Rewrite the following sentences emphasizing the noun or phrase in bold

1. The neighbours brought the boy to the hospital and saved his life.

2. Heart disease is often caused by high levels of cholesterol in the blood.

3. Paolo's main problem is lack of exercise.

4. Rising unemployment might have serious economic and social consequences.

5. Tom broke a window, not a table.

6. Eric's doctor didn't advise him to take the day off work.

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Dialogue: Your attitude to healthcare system in Kazakhstan

Phrases for your dialogues:

1. Suggest your idea:

- Why don’t we...         

- Shall we...

- Do you think we should...     + V

- Do you want to...

- Would you like to...

- Maybe the best thing would be to…

- I think the best thing might be to…

- I wonder if we should….

- How about...

- What about...                                          

- Do you feel like...               + Ving     

- What do you think of...

- Do you fancy...

- Let’s think about…

2. Prove your idea:

• … would be a good idea because ….

• One thing we should remember is that ….

• Personally, I suggest … because ….

• One advantage of … is that ….

• In my opinion, it would be best to choose … because ….

3. Agree or disagree:         

Agree:

Yes, I completely agree with you.

You are right.

That’s a good point.

That’s just what I wanted to say.

It’s a great idea!

Disagree:

I agree up to a point, but ...

Well, I agree to a certain extent, but ... 

I don’t think we should…

I’m afraid I don’t agree.

I have to disagree with you. 

I’m not sure I agree, to be honest.

Read the text using dictionary. Put three questions to the text

Health care system in Kazakhstan

Since becoming independent, Kazakhstan has undertaken major efforts in reforming its post-Soviet health system. Two comprehensive reform programmes were developed in the 2000s: the National Programme for Health Care Reform and Development 2005-2010 and the State Health Care Development Programme for 2011-2015 Salamatty Kazakhstan. Changes in health service provision included a reduction of the hospital sector and an increased emphasis on primary health care.

The quality of the health care has declined since 1991 because of insufficient funding and the loss of technical experts through emigration, lack of funding, lower pay and an inability to access the latest medical technology. There have been many pilot projects in health care reform which mainly focused on restructuring primary care, insurance regulation, provider payment mechanism and user fees. Kazakhstan has implemented a government-run Medical Service Payment Centre which was established in December of 1998. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has scored Kazakhstan 62 out of 191 countries globally. The healthcare system in Kazakhstan is in crisis in the rural areas such as the Aral Sea region, where regional health is most affected by high levels of industrial pollution, a lack of government funding, over crowding and subpar experts and doctors that have chosen to remain.

2005-2010 State Program has made a significant contribution to the medicine development in Kazakhstan. In the Address of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – the Leader of the Nation Nursultan Nazarbayev to the people of Kazakhstan "Strategy "Kazakhstan-2050" - a new policy of the successful state" it was stated: "We have made significant progress in improving the nation's health. To improve the efficiency of healthcare it has been reformed its system of organization, management and funding." Since 2010, resources for hospital services under the State Guaranteed Benefits Package have been pooled at the national level within the framework of implementing the Concept on the Unified National Health Care System. Kazakhstan has also embarked on promoting evidence-based medicine and developing and introducing new clinical practice guidelines, as well as facility-level quality improvements. However, key aspects of health system performance are still in dire need of improvement. One of the key challenges is regional inequities in health financing, health care utilization and health outcomes, although some improvements have been achieved in recent years. Despite recent investments and reforms, however, population health has not yet improved substantially.

Hospitals provide some outpatient care in their emergency rooms and specialty clinics, but primarily exist to provide inpatient care. Hospital emergency departments and urgent care centers are sources of sporadic problem-focused care. Hospice services for the terminally ill who are expected to live six months or less are most commonly subsidized by charities and government. Prenatal, family planning care is government-funded obstetric and gynecologic specialty and provided in primary care facilities, and is usually staffed by nurse practitioners (midwives).

A big share of medical health care is delivered through a vast network of primary care facilities called ambulatories and policlinics.

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