Birth rate increased and mortality went down in Kazakhstan

Birth rate increased and mortality went down in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports citing deputy Prime-Minister of Kazakhstan Yerbol Orynbayev as saying at the opening of the 15th meeting of the National Health Protection Coordination Council on August 24. The meeting covered prevention of chronic non-contagious diseases and the role of inter-department cooperation in tackling smoking, alcohol consumption, low physical activity and irrational nutrition. “Birth rate has increased by 25 percent and general mortality rate has gone 11 percent down, life expectancy increased for over 2 years in recent years,” Vice-PM Orynbayev said. According to Orynbayev, for the first time in many years state authorities, business-structures and the community has united their efforts on health protection. Inter-authority agreement on health protection was signed between 7 ministries in March. “This way we covered all significant life areas effecting people’s health,” Yerbol Orynbayev noted. “According to the WHO (World Health Organization), only 4 factors out of many risk factors that can cause chronic diseases to develop cannot be changed: sex, age, heredity and ethnic background. All the other factors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, overweight can be controlled,” Orynbayev said. He also stressed that food people eat, drink, and level of their physical activity are the determinants for building up a healthy population. Kazakhstan Minister of Healthcare Salidat Kairbekova noted that 2/3 of all the diseases that are currently at the top of mortality rate are represented by 4 main groups of diseases: cardiovascular diseases, malignant neoplasms, chronic diseases of respiratory system and diabetes. According to screenings of the population held in the first six months of the year, 857 thousand people were checked-up, which is 46 percent of the planned number. 85 thousand people with abnormalities were discovered, including 14,160 women with pathologies of milk glands. Screening of 1.7 million children revealed that over 400 thousand of them (25 percent) also have pathologies. All of them are currently undergoing treatment.