Analysis of maternal and infant health indicators in Kazakhstan: 2003–2018

BACKGROUND: The health status of women and children is the first and foremost priority for all countries in the world. In the first decade of Kazakhstan’s independence, the country’s population decreased by over 1 million, or 9.7%. Since 2003, the population of Kazakhstan has been growing steadily and is projected to be 18.9 million people in 2021. The focus on maternal and child health, an increase in the birth rate and a decrease in child and maternal mortality rates are the most important directions for state policy to improve the health and demographic situation in the country. AIM: The main purpose of the article is to analyze the main indicators of maternal and neonatal health in Kazakhstan before and after the implementation of the state health development programs “Densaulyk” and “Salamatty Kazakhstan.” METHODS: A retrospective study was carried out in two main databases of the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan (Medinfo Database and www.stat gov kz). RESULTS: According to the official statistics in Medinfo database, almost all 12 maternal health and 11 infant health indicators had a positive tendency after implementing state programs (2011–2018). Notable exceptions among maternal and infant indicators included: Rate of C-section increased to 81.3%, provision of care by obstetrician-gynecologists decreased to 16% and the number of hospital beds for pregnant women, women in labor and parturient women dropped to 37.9%, service provision by pediatricians (including neonatologists) decreased to 27.8% with provision of children’s hospital beds dropping to 24.9%. CONCLUSIONS: Health indicators related to mother, pregnancy and children under 1 year old showed favorable results after implementing the state programs “Densaulyk” and “Salamatty Kazakhstan. However, high mortality rates among premature and low birth weight babies point to the need for changes in prevention and education systems in general

Behavior and food consumption pattern of the population exposed in 1949–1962 to fallout from Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan

The relationship between radiation exposure from nuclear weapons testing fallout and thyroid disease in a group of 2,994 subjects has been the subject of study by the US National Cancer Institute. In that study, radiation doses to the thyroid were estimated for residents of villages in Kazakhstan possibly exposed to deposition of radioactive fallout from nuclear testing conducted by the Soviet Union at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site in Kazakhstan between 1949 and 1962. The study subjects included individuals of both Kazakh and Russian origin who were exposed during childhood and adolescence. An initial dose reconstruction used for the risk analysis of Land et al. (Radiat Res 169:373-383, 2008) was based on individual information collected from basic questionnaires administered to the study population in 1998. However, because data on several key questions for accurately estimating doses were not obtained from the 1998 questionnaires, it was decided to conduct a second data collection campaign in 2007. Due to the many years elapsed since exposure, a well-developed strategy was necessary to encourage accurate memory recall