Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation and Aruzhan Sain’s Mercy Volunteer Society will work together in the field of researching causes of cerebral palsy. On December 11, 2017, during a press conference in Almaty, the two philanthropists signed an agreement under which 5 million KZT was allocated for studying and assessing the risk factors that lead to the development of children’s cerebral palsy.
The objectives of this research are to study how frequently various forms of cerebral palsy occur among Kazakhstani children and to identify the main risk factors for the development of cerebral palsy in prenatal, and postnatal periods of a baby’s life.
“The number of parents who turn to the Foundation for help has increased. Several years ago we started sending children for treatment abroad, but there were too many applications and the project had to be suspended. We started looking for ways to treat children in Kazakhstan so that parents don’t have to beg for money from the government or other organizations. The most disturbing thing about this is that there is an increase in disability in childhood, we get data from our parents, draw up our tables and conducted research. And what do we see? There could be much fewer children with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy. Luckily, we have found responsible philanthropists and businessmen, who helped us launch a great project on finding solutions to the problems of our children. We do not ask who is to blame, we want to understand what we do next,” – said Aruzhan Sain.
She also told that her two daughters, Diana and Sofia, were diagnosed with an alarming diagnosis at birth. But, due to timely diagnosis and proper therapy, the girls grew up healthy and now are professionally engaged in ballet.
According to the chief of Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation, Marat Aitmagambetov, in 2018, the two foundations plan to conduct a retrospective analysis of 1,000 birth histories and 1,000 medical patient cards of children with cerebral palsy at the age from 6 months to 17. They also intend to organize a selective individual questioning of 100 parents, whose children are diagnosed with infantile cerebral paralysis. The ultimate goal is to develop recommendations for the Ministry of Health.