PERINATAL CARE INDICATORS IN ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN FOR 2013-2017: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Protection of maternity and child health is of great medical and social importance. Provision of medical care to women and children in Kazakhstan is the major task for state policy. Still, the data on epidemiological indicators of perinatal care in Kazakhstan are rather limited. This study was aimed at assessment of perinatal care indicators in Almaty, Kazakhstan Republic, over the period from 2013 to 2017. The data on demographic characteristics of study population were obtained from online platform of the Republican Center for Health Development. The analysis of perinatal indicators was carried-out on the basis of statistical reporting form No. 32. We relied on the standard statistical formulas to calculate epidemiological indicators. All statistical tests were performed in SPSS software, Version 17.0 for Windows. The crude birth rate over five years remained stable and was within the range of 25,975-26,289 per 1,000 population. The abortion rate constituted 2.018-2.272 per 1,000 population. The abortion ratio was growing until 2016 and composed 26.387 per 1,000 population. The adolescent fertility rate has dropped significantly over the past period from 4,357 per 1,000 teenage population in 2013 to 3,366 per 1,000 teenage population in 2017. The maternal mortality rate did not exceed 0.02 per 1,000 population. Maternal mortality ratio was within the range of 0.208-0.194 per 1,000 population. Incidence rate of extragenital pathology was very high and peaked in 2016 (1,010.800 per 1,000 population). Only 17.4% of women in labor were recognized as healthy based on the labor results. Effective perinatal technologies that were introduced in the Republic of Kazakhstan have demonstrated their high performance in achieving and maintaining a reasonable level of maternity and child health. This was particularly true for stable rate of general fertility and crude birth rate, and decreasing adolescent fertility rate. However, high rates of extragenital pathology indicate the need to implement national preventive programs aimed at ensuring proper monitoring over maternity health indicators.