Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States
Children at risk: infant and child health in Central Asia
The urgent need to address child health and nutrition in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic
Authors:
C. Buckley
Publisher:
William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan, 2003
This working paper, published by the William Davidson Institute, examines trends in infant and child health in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic in the mid 1990s. The proportion of anaemic children ranged from 26 to 39 per cent, whilst the proportion classified as having low weight for age ranged from 10 to 19 per cent. Children belonging to regional ethnic groups tended to have poorer health than others, although this was accounted for by differences such as parental education, type of residence, and mother’s health status. In particular, children with underweight or anaemic mothers were significantly more likely to be anaemic themselves.
The paper concludes that results point to a serious health problem in the three countries. It argues that any delays in addressing the child health situation run the risk of serious and costly problems in the long term. Policy suggestions include targeting women of reproductive age for nutritional treatment and health education, especially outside of the central cities and focusing on the least developed regions in countries such as the Kyrgyz Republic. Additional information on the prevalence and determinants of poor child health, focusing on basic health care access, immunisations, anaemia, nutrition and growth, is needed to target the children most at risk.
