JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Journal of the Gábor Bálint de ...

January-March 2013 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume V., Issue 1.
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The result was that the infant mortality dropped almost five times in the years between 1940 and 1960
even though the death rate of new-born babies, particularly premature ones, was still high. 61 General
mortality declined by 71% and infant mortality by 90% at the close of 1960s 62 (Picture 8).
Picture 8. Child care
facilities in Kazakh
hospitals
While all these figures and facts reveal a changed scenario in the mental setup of the natives,
progressing beyond doubt to a level that was giving shape to a new society entirely believing in
biomedicine. For example the infant mortality was one of the concerns of the state and accordingly
family planning issue was taken up in such a manner that looked different from many other countries.
The state allowed women opportunities to have more children in an effort to have more human resource
for varied activities of the state; and accordingly discouraged birth control methods intermittently
61 Examining the reason for this the Health Minister of Kazakhstan remarked in 1961 that a survey was done in 1960 only 78.6
percent of new-born babies had been visited by doctors in the first three days after discharge from the maternity home; Medical
Services in Central Asia and Kazakhstan, p. 124.
62 The consultation centres looked after children in the area up to age of three. They regularly examined the both healthy and
sick children in specialized departments and at home and taught mothers how to protect their children’s health, vaccinate
children against smallpox, tuberculosis, diphtheria, polio, etc. and supervised the work of the infant- feeding centers where
mothers received supplementary food for their babies. Children after reached the age of three were constantly looked after by
the district clinic up to the age of 14, or until they finished school. Due to these efforts, with the passage of time Soviet children
became stronger, taller, and healthier; USSR: Questions and Answers, 1917-1967, p. 323.
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