Contraceptives for Women: Ministry of Health Pledges to Expand Free Access

Kazakhstan’s Minister of Health, Akmaral Alnazarova, has announced plans to expand the state’s provision of contraceptives to women from socially vulnerable groups. The initiative aims to reduce the number of abortions, which currently stands at about 75,000 per year, Orda.kz reports.

Today, 75,000 abortions are performed annually in Kazakhstan. And, of course, with the availability of modern family planning methods, we must work to reduce this figure, because every abortion poses a threat to the patient’s health and life. Clinics are currently allocating funds to provide family planning tools for socially vulnerable groups. However, we understand that this is not enough, so this work continues, Alnazarova said.

The minister added that the Ministry has studied international experience and consulted foreign reproductive health specialists.

Responding to a question about funding, Alnazarova explained that clinics are already using their own budgets, while some regions allocate funds from local budgets.

Every medical organization today allocates funds from its own budget. Some regions have also provided financing from local budgets. The current Budget Code allows this. Therefore, we are now working with each Akimat to ensure that funding is provided not only by clinics — depending on their capacity — but more broadly, to increase coverage for our women who need this support,  she said.

The Ministry of Health plans to continue negotiations with regional akimats to increase coverage and make access to modern family planning methods the norm rather than the exception for women in Kazakhstan.

Original Author: Ilya Astakhov