Kazakhstan ranked first in Central Asia for newborn care in 2025. According to a joint report by experts from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the United Nations and the World Bank, the country’s neonatal mortality rate was 3.04 deaths per 1,000 live births that year.
«This is the best indicator in the region, nearly at the U.S. level,» Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Healthcare said in a statement.
Saving babies with extremely low birth weights
According to the ministry, Kazakhstani neonatologists, together with intensive care specialists, successfully care for babies with extremely low birth weights, starting at 500 grams.
«Thanks to modern perinatal technologies and the professionalism of medical workers, the survival rate of these children has quadrupled in recent years,» the ministry said.
During a single shift, a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit performs up to 20 delicate procedures to sustain the fragile lives of newborns.
«The equipment and medical staff closely monitor every breath of these tiny, underdeveloped babies,» the ministry added.
How many premature babies were born?
According to the Ministry of Healthcare, approximately 17,000 premature babies were born in Kazakhstan last year, and each received comprehensive high-tech medical care.
Earlier this year, Kazakhstani doctors spent more than two months fighting to save the life of newborn Aslan Aliyev, who was transported from Thailand on a specialized medical flight in critical condition. During that time, pediatric surgeons corrected his intestinal obstruction, while neonatologists helped him learn to breathe and eat on his own. Over the course of two months, Aslan gained more than one kilogram and weighed 2,500 grams when he was discharged.
