From 1949 to 1962, residents of several villages in Kazakhstan Abstract: received substantial doses of radiation to the thyroid gland resulting from nuclear tests conducted at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site. The primary source of radiation was internal from an intake of radioactive iodine by consumption of contaminated dairy products. A previous research study of childhood exposure and thyroid disease in this region gathered limited data on study participants’ dairy intake at the time of the fallout for the purpose of estimating past radiation doses. Because many subjects were too young at the time of the nuclear tests to recall dietary consumption and existing sources of archival data are limited, it was necessary to interview parents and other village residents who cared for children during this time; older adults ranging in age from 75 to 90 years old. Results from 11 focus group interviews conducted in 2007 with 82 women from 4 villages in Kazakhstan yielded group-level estimates of age-, gender-, ethnicity- and village-specific dairy consumption patterns in rural Kazakhstan during the 1950s. Children typically consumed cow’s milk with limited consumption of mare, goat, and sheep milk; and consumed dairy products such as sour milk (airan), soft cottage cheese (tvorog), and fermented mare milk (koumiss) with the greatest amounts of koumiss reported at ages 15–21. The consumption patterns differed by age and between Kazakh and Russian children, which should lead to different estimates of radiation exposure to the thyroid. This study demonstrated the utility of focus groups to obtain quantitative estimates for dietary intake in the distant past.

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 U.S. 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. (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 was 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. In our recent study, a focus group interview data collection methodology was used to collect historical behavioral and food consumption data. The data collection in 2007 involved interviews conducted within four eight-person focus groups (three groups of women and one group of men) in each of four exposed villages where thyroid disease screening was conducted in 1998. Population-based data on relevant childhood behaviors, including time spent in- and outdoors and consumption rates of milk and other dairy products were collected from women’s groups. The data were collected for five age groups of children and adolescents ranging from less than 1 year of age to 21 years of age. Dairy products considered included fresh milk and other products from cows, goats, mares, and sheep. Men’s focus group interviews pertained to construction materials of houses and schools, and animal grazing patterns and feeding practices. The response data collected are useful for improving estimates of thyroid radiation dose estimates for the subjects of an ongoing epidemiological study.

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BACKGROUND: The new coronavirus infection (coronavirus disease [COVID]-19) has become a serious obstacle on the health-care systems in Kazakhstan, as well as throughout the world. Certainly, the extent of emergency medical services (EMSs) use at some stage within the COVID-19 pandemic has been increased. However, the impact on the use of EMS in Kazakhstan during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been studied. AIM: The aim of this study was to analyze the dynamics of changes in the number of emergency medical calls during the COVID-19 pandemic, depending on the time of year, day of the week, and the causes for the calls. METHODS: This study retrospectively evaluated the Nur-Sultan (capital of Kazakhstan) EMS data for the period after the pandemic was first seen in Kazakhstan. The necessary permissions for the study were obtained from the Nur-Sultan City Public Health Department. EMS data for the same time interval (February 1–May 1) in the past 3 years (2018, 2019, and 2020) were compared. The data were taken from the database of the automated control system “Komek 103,” which is used in the ambulance station since the end of 2019, and the automated dispatch information systems “ADIS” used by the ambulance station in Nur-Sultan. RESULTS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, EMS call rates had been maximum common on Mondays and Thursdays by 13, 75%. The evaluation suggests that the quantity of male sufferers extended by 14, 05% in the course of the pandemic length, as compared to the pre-pandemic length. The quantity of patients with inside the 65+ age group in the course of the pandemic length has extended by 31.5%. During the pandemic, the signs and symptoms of fever enlarged significantly by 83%. Moreover, suicides elevated by 61% during the pandemic period. During the COVID‐19 pandemic, using EMS particularly for time touchy illnesses, which include hypertension (−31%), surgical emergencies (acute abdomen) (−40%), cerebrovascular illnesses (−11%), and other heart illnesses (−29%) decreased. CONCLUSIONS: During the pandemic period, there was an increase in the calls from male patients, compared to the pre-pandemic period. Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, EMS call rates had been increased on Mondays and Thursdays. We found an alteration with inside the sample of obtained calls. Furthermore, the quantity of patients with inside the 65+ age group in the course of the pandemic length has extended.

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 1million, 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. 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.