Public Health Department
The main goal of the Department is to form and promote healthy lifestyle. In pursuance to the goal the Public Health Department performs following functions:
- develops and redacts educational information materials and promotional materials (leaflets, booklets, brochures, posters etc.) on health lifestyle issues with further distribution of the published ones;
- develops guidance materials and education workshop programmes on health lifestyle formation;
- holds seminars and training sessions on healthy lifestyle, reproductive health, addiction prevention;
- renders assistance in development of preventing measures and programmes;
- renders an advisory opinion on health lifestyle issues;
- assists in arrangement and execution of social studies on healthy lifestyle.
The Department collaborates with state, non-governmental and religious organizations, as well as the UN office in the Republic of Belarus and the WHO.
The Public Health Department cooperates with the mass media on the issues of healthy lifestyle formation and acts as the Press Service of the Ministry of Health.
Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention
The goal of the Department is to stabilize and level down the spread of human immunodeficiency virus in Belarus.
Functions of the Department:
- to coordinate HIV preventive activity of ministries, other government agencies, local administrative authorities, public associations and international organizations;
- to implement and improve the system of epidemiological HIV control;
- to promote effective HIV preventive measures among population, including highly vulnerable groups;
- to provide guidelines and render assistance to public health organizations and non-medical agencies in respect of HIV/AIDS issues;
- to secure social and legal protection of the HIV-positive.
There is a room for medical procedures in the Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention. Here you can do a test for HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C. Moreover HIV-tests are anonymous: tel. +37517 2277911.
In December, 2005 on the basis of the Department there was established the Office for information and educational activity. It renders the following services:
- hotline for young adults on HIV/AIDS - +37517 2274825;
- on-line Web site on HIV/AIDS www.aids.by
- library of information and guidance materials, films and public service announcements on HIV/AIDS.
Hygiene Department
The Department includes:
- Division of Food Hygiene,
- Division of Children and Teenagers Hygiene,
- Division of Labour Hygiene,
- Division of Communal Hygiene,
- Division of Radiation Hygiene,
- Division of Radiation Safety.
For a fee according to the pricelists in force the Hygiene Department renders the following services:
• state sanitary and hygiene examination of:
- technical normative draft regulations in the sphere of technical regulation and standardization (except for technical normative draft regulations regarding development, manufacturing and distribution of medicines, standards of organizations) and design documents (technical conditions, formulas, technical descriptions, standards, guidelines, recommendations, building and reconstruction documents, technological processes, safety regulations, maximum allowable hazardous substance emission );
- manufacturing, output, transportation and distribution of products, items, articles;
- goods for children;
- work environment;
- expiration dates (storage time) and storage conditions of food staples and products which are different from the ones set in technical normative legal acts in effect in the sphere of technical regulation and standardization;
- works and services which may constitute potential danger to public health;
• examination of workshops, enterprises and other objects;
• laboratory tests;
• advisory and information services at the requests of economic agents, including site survey;
• consulting services and certification of food quality control systems on the HACCP basis.
Laboratory Department
The Laboratory Department includes the following laboratories:
Laboratory for sanitary, chemical and toxicological examination:
1. Food hygiene studies:
organoleptic, physicochemical, chromatographic (thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography), photocolorimetric, spectrometric (atomic emission, atomic absorption), polarographic tests:
a) physicochemical indicators in food products (moisture content; fat content, mass %; impurity content etc.)
b) safety indicators (pesticides, mycotoxins; veterinary substance residual, heavy metal salt residual).
2. Toxicology studies:
a) measurement of toxicometry indicators with tests on laboratory animals within the framework of primary toxicological analysis (endogastric, inhalation toxicity, sensitizing effect, skin-irritating effect, irritating effect on mucous tunic).
3. Communal hygiene studies(organoleptic, sanitary-and-chemical, sanitary-and-toxicological):
a) examination of model water while assessing polymeric, filtering materials, which have a contact with drinking water. There is determined the content of ions, hardness, nitrates, heavy metals, pesticide residual.
b) sampling and examination of model air with analysis of chemical substance migration;
c) examination of medicines (pyrogenicity etc.);
d) examination of industrial waste to determine a toxicity class according to the methods for soil (including phytotoxicity).
Laboratory of physical agents:
1. Dosimeter measurement (gamma, beta and alpha radiation); analysis of specific total alpha, beta activity in water; spectromentric tests (Cs137, natural radionuclides, Sr90), radiochemical tests (Sr90), radon detection by a quasi-integral method.
2. Measurement of:
- noise, vibration, infrasound, ultrasound;
- electromagnetic radiation in a radio-frequency range;
- magnetostatic and alternating magnetic fields;
- electrostatic intensity for consumer goods and on working places;
- infrared, ultraviolet and laser radiation.
3. Measurement of microclimate indicators (temperature, relative humidity, air velocity).
Microbiological laboratory:
1. Microbiological (bacteriological) and virologic (serologic) tests (hepatitis serodiagnosis);
2. sanitary and microbiological tests on food, water, cosmetics and medical items;
3. examination of disinfectants, test-systems, growth medium;
4. food tests for genetically modified components.
Laboratory for HIV/AIDS diagnosis
The Laboratory is a reference laboratory for HIV/AIDS diagnosis in the system of the Ministry of Health and Medical Service agencies in Belarus.
Functions:
1. Organization and guidance in respect of HIV/AIDS laboratory diagnosis:
a) development of normative and guidance documents;
b) advanced training of paramedical workers;
c) training and education of serodiagnosis laboratory specialists on the working places;
d) regular arrangement and holding of republican, regional, departmental seminars on HIV/AIDS laboratory diagnosis;
e) consultation and guidance services for laboratory specialists and medicoprophylactic institutions;
f) providing laboratories with diagnostic test-systems;
g) preregistration examination of equipment and diagnostic test-systems;
h) regular monitoring of tests distribution;
i) analysis and quality comparison of diagnostic test-systems in respect of sensitivity and specificity;
j) HIV/AIDS laboratory performance monitoring;
k) coordination and arrangement of the population screening for HIV/AIDS;
l) participation in the system of HIV/AIDS laboratory accreditation.
2. Reference studies (immunoblotting, polymerase chain reaction diagnosis, identification of a immunological status for the HIV-positive), HIV/AIDS screening tests (Minsk), arbitration studies (Minsk and Minsk region).
3. Research work in the framework of immunological monitoring and polymerase chain reaction diagnosis.
Laboratory for special danger infection (SDI) diagnosis:
1. Microbiological (bacteriological) and virologic (serologic) examination of the sick and the deceased presumably exposed to quarantine or special danger infections (SDI).
2. Arbitration studies.
3. Identification of pathogenic biological agents in the mail containing unknown powders (samples provided by the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus).
4. Taxonomic acknowledgement of detected SDI cultures and identification of their epidemiological significance.
5. Studies in the framework of epidemiological monitoring of cholera germ, feral herd and anthropurgic infection circulation in Belarus.
6. Organization of quality control over studies on unknown germ agent identification carried out by bacteriological laboratories, according to Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus No 495 dated April 10, 2001 “Of the state system of emergency situation prevention and response”.
General functions of the laboratories:
1. Development of sanitary draft norms and regulations, hygienic standards; sanitary norms and regulations, hygienic standards, guidelines, instructions; resolutions of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Health, the Chief State Sanitarian of the Republic of Belarus, orders of the Ministry of Health.
2. Under the instruction of the Ministry of Health consideration of draft normative legal acts of the President, the Council of Ministers, republican government authorities and other agencies under the Government in respect of radiation control.
3. Preparation of aggregate materials to inform the Presidential Administration, the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Health in respect of radiation control.
4. Rendering of assistance in organization, guidance and practice to state sanitary supervision agencies in respect of laboratory control:
- proposals regarding priority directions of laboratory activity;
- arrangement and holding of republican seminars, conferences, meetings for specialists of the sanitary-and-epidemiological service as for control issues;
- assistance in organization of and control over sanitary-and-epidemiological laws implementation.
5. Analysis and efficiency assessment of state sanitary supervision (as for laboratory control) implemented by territorial sanitary-and-epidemiological agencies.
6. Human environment monitoring according to republican and territorial monitoring programmes.
7. Maintenance of the method register. Formation of the computer data base on foreign substance content in external environment objects, food, drinking water, as well as on laboratory control over physical, chemical and biological agents.
8. Participation in hygienic examination of technical normative documents (standards, technical conditions etc.) as for industrial laboratory control.
9. Collaboration with theoretical and practical centres under the Ministry of Health, research institutions under the National Academy of Science as for laboratory control and other corresponding issues.
10. Consideration of people’s applications received by the Republican Centre for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health or by the Ministry of Health.
11. Arrangement and carrying out of interlaboratory checking tests.
12. Maintenance of the web-site on laboratory control in sanitary-and-epidemiological agencies.
Organization Department
The Department includes:
- Division of organization and guidance work;
- Division of sanitary-and-epidemiological regulation;
- Division of social-and-hygienic monitoring.
The Organization Department renders the following services:
- plans, analyses activity of the other departments;
- coordinates development of legal acts, sanitary regulations, norms and hygienic standards;
- makes programmes to develop sanitary-and-epidemiologic regulation, as well as controls implementation thereof;
- coordinates putting Intergovernmental normative acts regarding sanitary-and-epidemiologic well-being into execution in Belarus;
- arranges and holds conferences, sanitary-and-epidemiologic councils, seminars and meetings;
- maintains republican data bases on social-and-hygienic monitoring (gathering, accumulation and storage of information), as well as provides the required information to other authorities, agencies and organizations;
- by means of the surveillance systems identifies cause-and-effect relations between human health and environmental factors, analyses tendencies, as well as forecasts changes in basic indicators of public health and environment conditions;
- prepares digests, newsletters on basic public health indicators, environment conditions and performance of sanitary-and-epidemiologic agencies;
- renders assistance in consultation, guidance and practice to sanitary-and-prophylactic institutions and individuals.
Epidemiology Department
The primary function of the Department is to secure epidemic well-being as for communicable and parasitic diseases.
Other functions:
- epidemiological supervision over communicable and parasitic diseases, special danger and feral herd infections;
- rendering of assistance to sanitary-and-epidemiologic agencies in respect of preventive and antiepidemic measures;
- quality and timeliness (efficiency) assessment of preventive and antiepidemic measures;
- development and implementation of normative legal acts in respect of preventive and antiepidemic measures;
- collaboration with the ministries, agencies and international organizations to prevent and control communicable diseases;
- cooperation with the mass media to inform the public of quarantine, special danger, communicable and parasitic disease prevention;
- drawing up of a republican application and purchase of immunobiological medicines (vaccines, anatoxins, diagnosticums etc.), storage and distribution thereof among public health institutions.
Contact Details
50 Kazintsa str., 220099 Minsk, Belarus
Fax: +37517 2784207
E-mail: mail@rcheph.by
The Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and the Public Health Department have the following address: 3 Ulianovskaya str., Minsk.
Reception Room of the Chief Medical Officer: +37517 278 98 68
Personnel Department: +37517 278 63 06
Account Department: +37517 278 43 17
Organization Department: +37517 278 09 36
Hygiene Department: +37517 278 11 35
Epidemiology Department: +37517 278 51 25
Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention: +37517 227 54 35 (fax/reception: +37517 227 18 38)
Public Health Department: +37517 227 53 31 (fax/reception: +37517 227 53 21)
Laboratory Department: +37517 278 42 17
Test Management Department: +37517 212 48 04; +37517 278 42 26
Consulting Hours
Chief Medical Officer
Valeriy Viktorovich Grin
the 4th Thursday of a month – 8.00-13.00
Deputy Chief Medical Officer
Ludmila Konstantinovna Naroychik
the 1st Thursday of a month – 8.00-13.00
Deputy Chief Medical Officer
Nelly Tadeushevna Hinduk
the 3rd Thursday of a month – 8.00-13.00
Deputy Chief Medical Officer
Angela Leonidovna Skuranovich
the 2nd Thursday of a month – 8.00-13.00
