As COVID-19 highlights the needs of children and adolescents, the government of Kazakhstan will ensure that this population has universal access to health insurance, including vital sexual and reproductive health services that are otherwise out of reach. We have taken recent and deliberate steps to ensure that
“The well-being of our children is the surest guarantee of our country’s future success,” said Kazakhstan’s President Kasim Jomart Tokayev.
Until now, Kazakhstan has limited access to health services for well-funded youth. The facilities were privatized, mostly in big cities and not covered by insurance. As a result, only 1% of young people aged 14 to her 28 used these services. A new package of regulations has lowered the age of consent for access to services without parental consent, expanded the Health Promotion Schools initiative nationwide, and opened more than 180 youth health centers across the country.
