24.05.2022

The RoK Ministry of Healthcare signed the Memorandum of Cooperation with AYALA Charity Foundation to coordinate efforts to reduce the incidence of retinopathy in premature babies.

Retinopathy of prematurity is an eye disease that, in severe cases, with untimely ophthalmological care, always leads to irreversible loss of vision. This pathology occurs only in premature babies. The earlier than due time the child was born and the lower his body weight, the more severe the retinopathy.

According to Kazakhstani doctors, about 40% of babies born prematurely suffer from retinopathy. This disease occupies one of the leading places in the structure of causes of disability in newborns throughout the world. There are no external signs of this disease. Only a specialized and trained ophthalmologist using special equipment can see the early manifestations of this disease and refer the child for surgical correction with laser.

The memorandum between the RoK Ministry of Healthcare and AYALA CF includes cooperation in developing a number of issues, including the possibility of including in the 2023 budget funds for the purchase of medicines for intravitreal administration of angiogenesis inhibitors. It also provides for studying the effective treatment of neonatal retinopathy and providing other assistance to achieve its goals.

The Memorandum provides for joint meetings organized by the parties in the format of meetings with the participation of stakeholders, prompt exchange of information of mutual interest, development of joint programs and participation in working groups to carry out tasks related to retinopathy of premature newborns.

AYALA Charity Foundation has been working to reduce infant mortality and disability for 15 years in Kazakhstan. Using the funds collected from Kazakhstanis and sponsorship from large companies, the Foundation donated more than 1,100 units of resuscitation equipment to perinatal Centres and children’s hospitals. It helped save the lives of hundreds of thousands of newborns in our country, and not beyond its borders.

The RoK Ministry of Healthcare noted that cooperation with AYALA Foundation is beneficial, since the issue of insufficient equipping of perinatal Centres with diagnostic and surgical equipment still remains relevant, which affects the conduct of high-quality screening and untimely treatment of premature babies. The units that the Foundation supplies to oblast perinatal Centres help the state significantly reduce disability among premature babies.

To reduce children’s disability due to retinopathy of prematurity, in 2022 AYALA Foundation purchased four laser units for laser coagulation of the retina and 14 ophthalmoscopes for screening and prompt diagnosis of vision problems. Perinatal Centres in 14 cities of Kazakhstan will receive this equipment worth more than 60 million tenge in the second half of the year. The Foundation is actively working to find sponsors for the purchase of 6 retinal pediatric cameras, which will significantly improve the process of diagnosing and treating retinopathy in the regions of the country.

AYALA CF is not limited only to the installation of medical equipment. The Foundation is in constant quest for the most effective methods to reduce childhood disability. The situation with retinopathy was no exception.

“Currently, the main method of treating retinopathy of prematurity in Kazakhstan is laser coagulation of the avascular retina. However, for aggressive and fulminant forms of retinopathy, the treatment method is intravitreal injection of angiogenesis inhibitors into the vitreous cavity. As a result, the peripheral retina is not damaged and the child’s vision is preserved. We are taking an active part in exploring the issue of providing Kazakhstani children with the opportunity to treat this fulminant form of retinopathy of prematurity by injection. An updated clinical protocol for intravitreal administration of angiogenesis inhibitors is currently under consideration by the Joint Quality Commision under the RoK Ministry of Healthcare I would like to express my deep gratitude to the RoK Ministry of Healthcare for itsopenness and attention to the problem of retinopathy. For our part, we are always ready to be useful to the state, providing for this purpose the resources, knowledge and competencies accumulated as part of the Let’s Breathe Life project,” noted Aidan Suleimenova, President of AYALA Charity Foundation.

This is the third Memorandum signed between AYALA CF and the RoK Ministry of Healthcare. The result of the Foundation’s work under the first Memorandum was the equipping of all intensive care units of perinatal Centres in Kazakhstan with equipment for nursing extremely premature babies, which made it possible to reduce the infant mortality rate by 3.5 times by 2015. As part of the second Memorandum, equipment for automatic hypothermia, which saves the lives and intelligence of children born with moderate and severe asphyxia, was included in the register for mandatory public procurement. The Foundation, through attracting sponsorship funds, has installed 7 units since 2017, they have saved the lives and health of 205 children Another 7 units will be installed in the second half of 2022.