Dr. Hans Kluge, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, ahead of the Regional Environmental Summit opening on April 22 in Astana, emphasized that no plan to restore the Aral Sea region can be considered truly successful if it does not improve the health of the people living there. In his column, he stated that as leaders from Central Asia and other states gather for the summit, it is time to acknowledge this simple truth and reinforce it with political will and the resources needed for real change.
For decades, key measures against the Aral Sea crisis have focused on ecological restoration, while the health consequences for local populations have often been overlooked and underfunded. Women and children bear the heaviest burden of this disaster: over the past 10 years, anemia rates in the Aral Sea region remain significantly higher than national averages—2.5 times higher among children and 2.7 times among women, with 77% of pregnant women affected by anemia.
Recent data indicates widespread endocrine and gynecological disorders among women living near the ecological disaster zone, including early menopause, infertility, and perinatal losses. Thyroid dysfunction is also prevalent: 12% of women have diffuse goiter, 32% show high levels of antibodies to thyroid peroxidase, indicating dysfunction, and 2-3% are diagnosed with manifest hypothyroidism. Children, in turn, face risks of developmental delays, chronic respiratory diseases, and anemia.
These are not isolated incidents but persistent, intergenerational patterns resulting from long-term exposure to toxic dust, polluted water, degraded soil, and industrial waste that have shaped this environment and limited healthy nutrition options. In recent years, climate change has exacerbated these impacts: rising temperatures accelerate water evaporation from the Aral Sea.
In response, WHO is advancing the "Healthy Future for the Aral Sea Region" initiative, launched following requests from the health ministers of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to help assess the crisis's impact on population health. The initiative aims to place health at the core of restoration efforts, strengthen epidemiological surveillance systems, and improve measures for drinking water safety and air quality management.
Additionally, the initiative envisions investments in healthcare systems capable of timely detection and treatment of environment-related diseases, including reproductive and developmental disorders, creation of early warning systems for dust storms, and enhancement of water security. None of these can be achieved by a single country alone, as transboundary issues like dust storms and water scarcity demand regional cooperation.
A Memorandum of Understanding to be signed in Astana between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, along with a recently established interagency working group, demonstrates commitment to regional collaboration. The Astana summit, convened at the initiative of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, is designed as a platform for dialogue on climate and environmental challenges, uniting national, regional, and international partners for sustainable technical and financial support.
The summit's success will be measured not by the number of documents signed but by whether the health of a child born in the Aral Sea region in 2030 is better than that of a child born today. This indicator should serve as the key criterion for evaluating the summit's outcomes.
Source: www.gazeta.uz