Infant mortality in Uzbekistan topped 7214 children last year, which is 160 more than in 2020 (7,054). This was discussed at a meeting of the Senate Council, dedicated to the protection of reproductive health, motherhood and childhood on Wednesday. The meeting was chaired by the spokeswoman of the Senate Tanzila Narbaeva.

At the meeting, she pointed to shortcomings in the implementation in the provinces of the State Program for Early Detection of Congenital and Hereditary Diseases in Children in 2018-2022.

The issue of strengthening the material and technical base of maternity institutions in accordance with international standards and providing medicines has not been fully resolved, she added.

Tanzila Narbaeva called family marriages a factor that seriously affects the reproductive health of the population. She stressed that bans will not solve this problem, it is necessary to carry out explanatory work among people.

“All departments responsible of upbringing and education of a person, the Ministry of Preschool Education and the Ministry of Public Education, should be proactive in solving problems of reproductive health. Health lessons should be taught from the school bench, where children should learn hygiene, reproductive health and other issues that are important for the future life of our children,” she said.

The Kengash of the Senate decided to form a working group to study the real situation in the regions in the implementation of preventive measures for the protection of motherhood and childhood and the protection of reproductive health. It included representatives of the Senate, the Cabinet of Ministers, responsible ministries, departments and institutions. The group has until November 1 to prepare specific proposals to improve the situation.

There are 227 maternity institutions and 238 children's medical and preventive institutions in Uzbekistan. There are more than 17.5 million women, of which 9.1 million are of childbearing age, and over 11.3 million children under the age of 18 (32% of the total population).

In the first eight months of this year, 6.7 million (74.1%) women of childbearing age underwent a medical examination, of which 2.9 million, or 42.9%, had extragenital diseases, the Senate said.

According to the data announced at the meeting of the Council, 2.2 million women (75.9%) underwent rehabilitation, including 2 million (90.4%) on an outpatient basis and 200,000 (9.3%) on an inpatient basis.