Some
years ago “cholera” was used merely as a swearword in Kazakhstan. Hardly
anyone at the time gave much thought to the real meaning of the word at the
time. The true epidemic proportions of cholera became known to local people
only last year when to the awe of the self-assured medical officials,
29 residents of the Mangystau region contracted the disease
within a few days. The same year,
15 cases of anthrax were registered in southern
Kazakhstan.
Foot-and-mouth diseases have also been frequently reported from southern parts
of the country last year.
What
worries the general public more is not the threatening spread of the disease,
but the obvious inability of the medical institutions to combat the diseases
effectively. Last year, for example, the government allocated 15 million tenge
(an equivalent of US$100,000) to prevent the spread of epidemic diseases. The
sum is, of course, inadequate to carry out any serious project or to provide
medical centers with antibiotics and modern medicine. But the worst thing, as
was revealed at the international conference on prevention of the contagious
diseases in Kazakhstan, held on April 15 in Almaty, is that the health-care
system of the country is still lagging behind the others.
According
to the statistics of the National Heath Department, 2 million cases of
infectious diseases were reported last year. What is more alarming, 70% of the
affected are children under the age of 15. Every year, 22,000 additional cases
of tuberculosis are registered in the country. Last year, about 1,000
HIV-infected people received medical treatment, while more than 500 of the
patients had to be hospitalized.
Some
speakers at the conference pointed out the problems which reduce the results
of measures taken by medical institutions of Kazakhstan to combat contagious
diseases. According to the director of the Center for Disease Control in
Central Asia Michael Favoroff, Kazakhstan should concentrate more on the
prevention of the diseases, and not on the treatment of them. Actually, the
health-care system of Kazakhstan has long declared the prevention of disease
as a priority, but in reality nothing has been done to implement this strategy
which would achieve much more considerable results at lower cost. Instead, as
it was revealed at the conference by the general director of the National
Center for Promotion of Healthy Way of Life Aykan Akanow, the government is
still spending money on the costly treatment of the diseases.
The
spread of such diseases as AIDS and tuberculosis are understandably attributed
to the low standard of living conditions, poverty and drug abuse. It is
officially admitted that almost every one of the overcrowded prisons in
Kazakhstan is infested with tuberculosis. The recent amnesty of people serving
prison terms for minor crimes added to the problem. The continuing migration
of unemployed people from rural areas into the cities also contributes to the
spread of the disease. For many of these people, even the cheapest medicines
are not affordable. Added to this, the low quality of drinking water in most
regions, particularly in the South, compounds the problem.
Medical
workers in Kazakhstan are among the lowest paid. Many see no other ways of
filling their stomach than taking bribes. That erodes public confidence in
medical workers. Many people in case of illness therefore turn to quack
doctors with doubtful reputation. Not long ago, the government had to issue a
decree to stop the practice of quackery. But this warning fell on deaf ears of
the “folk healers”.
Since
the beginning if the economic reform, the health system of the country
underwent several stages of reforming, yet these efforts turned to be futile
for the lack of a clear concept. It
was also noted at the conference, that Kazakhstan has a greater role to play
serving as a positive example for other Central Asian countries in combating
infectious diseases. To be up to that mark health-care system of Kazakhstan
should adopt new, internationally recognized approaches.
Marat
Yermukanov,
Kazakhstan