With COVID-19 bringing the needs of children and adolescents into sharp focus, the Government of Kazakhstan has taken recent and purposeful steps to ensure this population has universal access to health coverage, including important sexual and reproductive health services that were otherwise out of reach.
"The wellbeing of children is a solid guarantee of the successful future of our country," said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of Kazakhstan.
In the past, access to well-funded youth-friendly health services in Kazakhstan was been limited. Facilities were privatized, mostly located in large cities, and not covered by insurance; as a result, just 1 percent of young people 14 to 28 years old utilized these services.
A package of new regulations lowered the age of consent for access to services without parental sign-off, scaled up the Health Promoting Schools Initiative throughout the country, and led to the opening of more than180 youth health centers throughout the country. These advancements are documented on the WHO and UNFPA Learning by Sharing Portal, a tool which offers experiences in integrating and increasing access to quality sexual and reproductive health services for all, around the world.
"Supporting nutrition, education and access to health services, while preventing violence and injury are all essential to the health and wellbeing of children and adolescents throughout this region, and the world," said Zhanar Kalmakova, the Acting Board Chairperson at the National Center for Public Health. "A national, regional and global emphasis on the needs of children and adolescents and tailoring services to them specifically, is crucial to their ability to thrive as individuals, and our ability to thrive as communities and countries."
Subregional conference
Remote participation is possible by joining YouTube live stream on 12-13 December at 9.00 CET
As 2022, deemed the Year of Children in Kazakhstan, draws to a close, the Government, in collaboration with WHO and UNFPA, is hosting a hybrid subregional conference to share these lessons learned in adolescent health and educational services. Speakers and participants of the conference include representatives from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, Moldova and Armenia.
