26.09.2025

Courage to Be First Corporate Foundation, together with the AYALA Charity Foundation, continues its work to reduce the rate of infant disability in Kazakhstan. This year, a part of the participants’ entry fees from the Almaty Marathon together with support from partners will allow implementing two unique projects with a total budget of 145 million tenge. The goal of these projects is to help children avoid disability and give them a chance for a happy future.

«Breath in Life» Project: Launching a Treatment Previously Unavailable in Kazakhstan

Vascular malformations are a congenital condition due to which children have to live with pain, bleeding, impaired organ function, and in some cases, significant cosmetic defects. In Kazakhstan, no medical care is available for this diagnosis. As a result, families are forced to seek treatment abroad. The state allocates hundreds of millions of tenge to provide medical support for Kazakh children overseas.

Thanks to the athletes and partners of the Almaty Marathon, state-of-the-art medical equipment will be installed at the Scientific Center of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery in Almaty. This will enable doctors to treat Kazakhstani children with vascular anomalies. A team of doctors from the center will undergo training at a leading clinic in Germany specializing in vascular malformations. Implementation of this project will allow to perform up to 100 procedures per year and provide help to up to 50 children annually.

Galimzhan Yessenov, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Courage to Be First Corporate Foundation, emphasized: «Almaty Marathon is not just about sports. On various distances in different cities of Kazakhstan, the hearts of thousands of athletes unite for annual large-scale charitable activities. With the fourteenth marathon in Almaty this September, we are launching two new projects the ultimate goal of which is healthy and happy children. We are inspired to be part of the new phase in the development of children’s healthcare in Kazakhstan together with the Ministry of Health and AYALA Charity Foundation.»

The Project will be implemented by the end of 2026 and will help preserve the quality of life of children all over Kazakhstan.

“I Can See the World”: The Light in the Eyes of Premature Babies

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a disease with no visible symptoms. Parents look at their newborn baby and do not suspect that the child could go blind at any moment. This condition can only be diagnosed and treated promptly by a highly qualified neonatal ophthalmologist using specialized equipment.

In 2025, charity foundations helped equip the Shymkent City Perinatal Center with a retinal camera, and hundreds of premature infants have received timely diagnosis and necessary treatment. Following the project successful launch it will continue in Turkestan region – where more than 60 thousand children are born annually including approximately 5 thousand prematurely born infants.

Regional Perinatal Center No. 3 in Turkestan will be provided with a laser system for treating aggressive forms of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in preterm infants. Thus, doctors will no longer need to expose children to additional risks or arrange emergency transportation to Shymkent or Almaty.

Within the framework of «I Can See the World» project, over five years, the rate of disability due to vision impairment in newborns has been reduced to almost zero in many regions of Kazakhstan. The laser system in Turkestan Region will allow performing up to 90% of necessary retinal interventions on site and reduce the risk of childhood blindness due to retinopathy and other pathologies.

Both projects are implementing state-of-the-art medical technologies in Kazakhstan. For some children, these technologies will provide a chance to be free from vascular pathology and pain; for others, they will help save their eyesight and the ability to see the world.

The Almaty Marathon is the largest running event in Central Asia. Since 2012, as part of which more than 30 charity projects for the amount over 300 million tenge have been carried out. The 14th marathon will be held on September 28.