Healthcare Ministry takes measures to identify children with disability at early stage

Healthcare Minister Akmaral Alnazarova explained the rise in children’s disability cases in Kazakhstan with a number of changes related to the improvement of diagnostic methods, Kazinform News Agency reports.

“Due to the implementation of new diagnostic technologies and methods, the structure of children’s disability has changed in the past seven years. For example, the number of congenital defects and chromosomal abnormalities had reduced by 5.2%, while the number of nervous disorders decreased by 1.7%. The nervous system diseases prevail in the structure of children’s disabilities,” Akmaral Alnazarova said.

The share of children with disabilities in Kazakhstan is 1.6% of the total number of children, while, according to WHO, global disability indicator varies from 2% to 3%.

“For this reason, the ministry carries out prevention works aimed at reduction and early identification of the factors leading to disability,” she added.

In her words, four types of diagnostic screening tests – newborn, audiologic, ophthalmologic and psychophysical screening - are carried out in newborns and children under six. 

The newborn screening  test is applied to identify phenylketonuria and infantile hypothyroidism. 256,000 newborns (98%) underwent this type of screening in nine months of 2024, which allowed to identify 17 cases of phenylketonuria and 3,100 cases of infantile hypothyroidism.

The audiologic or hearing screening was held among 96.3% of newborns and 55% of children aged from 1 to 6, to identify hearing disorders.

The ophthalmological screening test is used to identify retinopathy of prematurity. 

The psychophysical screening test is carried out to diagnose psychophysical disorders in newborns and children under 5. 1,732,426 children or 92% have undergone this test countrywide.