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Better Buses Help Air Quality in Bishkek to Improve

Officials claim that the air quality in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, has significantly improved over the last two years due to the ongoing renewal of the municipal transport fleet, switching residential heating from coal to natural gas, and extinguishing the sanitary landfill near Bishkek that had burned for decades. Chyngyzbek Abdymalik Uulu, an atmospheric air specialist at the Kyrgyz Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology, and Technical Supervision, told Birinchi Radio that the primary sources of air pollution in Bishkek were low-quality coal, exhaust gases from motor transport, and the burning of municipal solid waste at the city landfill. The official says that, in large part, the air quality has improved due to the decreasing number of minibuses on Bishkek streets. Over the past 30 years, "markhrutka" minibuses — mainly aged Mercedes minivans — have been the primary type of municipal transport in Bishkek, vastly surpassing in number the limited fleet of large buses and trolleybuses. Running on diesel, these old marshrutkas spew harmful gases into the atmosphere and congest city traffic, since they stop anywhere on demand. Abdymalik Uulu said more than 3,000 minibuses ran in the capital until 2022. After their number was reduced over the last two years, diesel fuel consumption decreased by 100 tons daily. The Bishkek municipality has now removed the minibuses from the central part of the city and replaced them with large buses running on liquefied natural gas. In 2023, Bishkek purchased a thousand large buses from China, which have been arriving in the capital city in batches over the past year. Today, the municipal fleet has 1,200 buses. In addition, by the end of 2024, the city will receive 100 12-meter-long buses, and 120 electric buses will arrive in the second quarter of 2025. Both officials and analysts agree that renewing the municipal transport fleet will improve the air quality in Bishkek. Abdymalik Uulu added that gasification is another reason for the improved air quality. To date, about 20,000 households have been connected to natural gas networks, which has decreased coal burning by 58,000 tons. Also, he said, all of Bishkek’s 74 large boiler houses that used to burn large amounts of coal daily have now been converted to electricity and natural gas. Finally, the Bishkek sanitary landfill, which burned for decades and released large volumes of harmful emissions, has been completely extinguished.

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Doctors in Turkmenistan Ordered Not To Perform Abortions

Turkmenistan has imposed severe restrictions on conducting abortions, effectively banning them. In recent weeks, government officials have been visiting hospitals and clinics, and warning doctors that they will be stripped of their diplomas if they do. According to Radio Azatlyk, sources from different regions of the country say that doctors have been forced to refuse women seeking abortions, even though the law allows it within the first five weeks of pregnancy. The authorities have not commented on the reasons for yet another tightening of measures to prevent abortions. However, according to several doctors in Ashgabat, it may be due to a sharp increase in teenage pregnancies. At the same time, doctors note that many young girls, unable to have a legal abortion, resort to dangerous methods of terminating pregnancy, resulting in serious risks to their health. Despite the bans, there are still doctors who continue to perform abortions clandestinely. The cost of such services has increased significantly, and varies depending on the term of the pregnancy.

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UN Launches Projects to Improve Health and Environment in the Aral Sea Region

The UN has launched two new projects to address environmental and health issues in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan. These projects are “Enhancing Climate-Resilient and Safe Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Health Services for the Most Affected Communities in Four Districts of Karakalpakstan,” and the joint project between its development programme (UNDP) and its food and agriculture organization (FAO), "Building Knowledge and Skills of Local Partners and Communities to Address Environmental Insecurities through Innovative Air, Land, and Water Management Solutions in the Aral Sea Region.” “The launch of these projects marks a significant milestone in our collective efforts to address the Aral Sea Region's profound environmental and health challenges," said Sabine Machl, the UN's Resident Coordinator in Uzbekistan. "By fostering resilience through innovative solutions in water management, health services, and community empowerment, we are laying the groundwork for a sustainable future in Karakalpakstan.” The project between the UNDP and FAO aims to increase the knowledge and skills needed by local partners and communities to solve environmental security problems. It also aims to develop practical solutions for managing air, land and water, enabling communities to adapt to and mitigate climate change. In addition, within the project's framework, special attention will be paid to introducing new approaches to water treatment, forest restoration, and soil stabilization in the region. These activities have the potential to directly benefit over 376,000 residents of the three northern districts of Moynaq, Kungrad, and Takhtakupir in Karakalpakstan, particularly women in at-risk communities. The indirect impact will extend to 200,000 more people and build on the results of the previous projects. On 16 August, the UN programme “Laying the Foundations for People-Centered, Climate-Resilient Primary Health Care and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Practices at Healthcare Facilities and Schools” was officially completed. During his visit to Karakalpakstan on August 19, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced the establishment of the Aral Sea Region International Innovation Center to improve the ecosystem and create new varieties and seeds in a saline, water-less environment. $80 million will be allocated to mitigate the consequences of climate change in the Aral Sea region. The Times of Central Asia has published several articles about the problems arising from the drying up the Aral Sea and the work being done to combat this.

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Central Asia Takes Steps to Ward off Mpox after WHO Declares Emergency

Central Asian countries have prepared mpox test kits and taken other precautions since the U.N. World Health Organization said last week that the sharp increase in cases of the virus in Africa posed an international health emergency. Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are among countries in the region that say they have not registered any suspected cases of the virus. They are heeding the advice of WHO, which is appealing for a coordinated international response to prevent its wider spread. The U.N. health agency also declared a global health emergency because of mpox in 2022, and cases were reported around the world before declining. Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Health said on Monday that it has increased sanitary and quarantine measures at airports, railway stations and border crossings, and is focusing on people coming from countries where cases of mpox have been reported. “Today, sanitary and quarantine points are equipped with thermal imagers and contactless thermometers for the timely detection of people with fever,” the ministry said. It added that WHO had assisted with the delivery to Kyrgyzstan of 3,000 PCR tests for detecting mpox in 2022. Some 500 tests were available as of Monday and efforts are underway to procure more tests, according to the ministry. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are also conducting similar precautionary measures. Timur Sultangaziyev, Kazakhstan’s deputy health minister, said methods for detecting people infected with the mpox virus are based on the COVID-19 pandemic and treatment guidelines are in place, according to the Kazinform News Agency. Health officials in Uzbekistan said they are planning for a 21-day medical observation period of anyone who has had contact with a patient sick with mpox. Like other Central Asian countries, they plan to build up their reserve of test kits for the virus. Medical specialists are also being trained in how to handle the disease. Mpox has been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC, for more than a decade, with cases increasing each year, according to WHO. The number of cases reported so far this year is more than last year’s total, with more than 15,000 cases and at least 500 deaths, according to WHO. Some other African countries have reported a far smaller number of cases. The DRC outbreak is being driven by two strains – one that mostly affects children, and a new one that “primarily affects adults and is spreading rapidly, sustained largely, but not exclusively, through transmission linked to sexual contact and amplified in networks associated with commercial sex and sex workers,” WHO said. Mpox symptoms can include fever, skin rash, lesions and chills. Most treatment is aimed at relieving symptoms. The disease can spread through close contact with an infected animal or person.

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UNICEF: Central Asia Must Work To Keep Children Out Of Alternative Care

About 60,000 children across the five Central Asian countries remain in alternative, care despite the known and devastating effects of family separation and child institutionalization, according to a new policy report released by UNICEF. Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, highlighted the dire and lifelong consequences of institutionalization for children and stressed the need for more investment in family support services. “We have seen progress in recent years in reducing the number of children in alternative care – including the closure of institutions. We must continue this work so that no child is ever placed in alternative care because of poverty, disability or challenging behavior, or because their family lacks access to services they need to care for their child at home,” she said. The report states that 203 children per 100,000 in the region live in care institutions, nearly double the world average of 105 per 100,000. While progress has been made in reducing the overall number of children in institutions, the report notes that children with disabilities are disproportionately represented in these homes. Between 2015 and 2021, the proportion of children with disabilities in residential institutions increased in all Central Asian countries except Kazakhstan, indicating persistent social norms and a lack of social services for these children. UNICEF emphasizes the need to close institutions and support families to prevent unnecessary placement of children in residential care. The organization offers a comprehensive approach to ensure that all children, regardless of their circumstances, grow up in a family environment: 1. Implement effective childcare reforms to keep children with their families where possible, including planning to close large-scale institutions and develop a comprehensive continuum of child and family support and protection services. 2. Investment in a range of child and family support services, including statutory family support services and a strong social service workforce, for the early identification of and intervention in situations when children are at risk of separation. 3. Securing family-based alternative care, including stronger support for extended family members who care for children and strategies to keep siblings together where possible. 4. Protecting children who are already in alternative care against violence, neglect, and abuse through robust safeguarding policies and practices. 5. Investing in more and better data on children who are at risk of family separation, in alternative care, or who have left care. 6. Raising public awareness of the benefits of keeping families together and the urgent need to prioritize family-based care. 7. Ensuring that children have a voice in the decisions that affect them and are consulted when new policies and practices are developed to meet their needs and rights. UNICEF works with governments and partners in Central Asia to keep and support families and community-based care. This also includes implementing deinstitutionalization policies, expanding family support services to prevent separation, а family reunification, and facilitating safe transitions to independent living.

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Live Long and Prosper: Kazakhstan’s Population Ageing

In 2023, life expectancy in Kazakhstan reached a record high of 75.09 years. As stated in a study from Ranking.kz, at the beginning of 2024, the number of adults over the age of 60 in the country exceeded 2.7 million, an increase of 4.2% year-on-year. Life expectancy in Kazakhstan has steadily increased for many years, except in 2020 and 2021, when it declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2022, this indicator began to rise again. The highest life expectancy was recorded in Almaty (78.28 years), Astana (78.09 years), Shymkent (76.32 years), and the Mangistau (75.84 years) and Atyrau (75.29 years) regions. By the beginning of 2024, the number of older people in the total population had reached 13.6%, up from 12% in 2020, and 9.8% in 2010. International and Kazakhstani experts predict that the population's demographic aging will intensify by 2050; the share of people over 60 will reach 16.7%, which means that every sixth resident of the country will be over 60 years old. Population aging has led to a decrease in the potential support ratio of the working-age population (25 to 64 years old) to the number of people over 65 years old. This ratio fell from 7.7 in 2012 to 5.49 in 2023. The ratio will drop to 4 by 2050, significantly increasing the working-age population's burden.