Muhammed Ergeshov, head of the Department of Therapeutic and Preventive Services of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan, delivered a welcoming speech at the UNICEF festive event at the UN House.
He briefed about the achievements of Turkmenistan in the field of protecting mother and child health.
“The introduction of highly effective technologies designed for mothers and newborns, children’s healthcare has improved the survival rate of children aged up to 5 years and reduced widespread growth retardation, increased breastfeeding coverage from 11% in 2006 to 57% in 2019,” Ergeshov said.
Certain successes have been achieved in the immunization of the population and the universal iodization of salt. Thus, the consumption of iodized salt in households grew from 86.5% to 96.7%, and the vaccination coverage rate overall was 95.3%.
The legislative framework for ensuring the child’s right to comprehensive health development is also being strengthened.
In 2016, Turkmenistan adopted a law on the protection and promotion of breastfeeding. According to the representative of the health ministry, this year the monitoring of the implementation of this law has begun in Turkmenistan.
Under the UNICEF support, a program is being realized to improve the nutrition of infants and young children.
Turkmenistan has succeeded in the implementation of the child-friendly institutions program. By 2021, 15 health homes have been awarded a child-friendly certificate.
Turkmenistan has launched the realization of the national strategy “Healthy mother – healthy child – healthy future” for 2021-2025. As part of this strategy, it is planned to improve the system of patronage services and the widespread introduction of a program for the integrated management of childhood diseases.
“Our country takes a leading position in the field of early child development. Turkmenistan is one of the few countries in the region demonstrating a systematic intersectoral approach to building an early intervention system,” Ergeshov told.
At present, the country continues to implement the national strategy for early child development for 2020-2025. As part of the strategy, 18% of the country’s districts have already begun to provide an early detection of disorders at the primary health care level.
Since 2015, the early development program has covered more than 17,000 young children. According to the official, there are plans to expand this service at the national level.
“In the near future, thanks to this initiative and in cooperation with UNICEF, every child will have access to a progressive method of monitoring development and, if necessary, will be able to get timely support”, he added.
The representative of the health ministry also informed about future steps to improve the system of neonatal screening and the inclusion of this check-up in a free package of services. In particular, an electronic registry for neonatal screening has been created and introduced. ///nCa, 1 June 2022