At a press conference in Almaty, the vice-president of the Nutrition Academy Yuri Sinyavsky told the journalists that the hepatitis medicine of a new generation found by a group of researchers could revolutionize the whole concept of treatment of one of the most dangerous diseases, hepatitis B, C and D which cause liver cirrhosis. “Conventional methods of treatment are efficient in no more than 15-20% of cases. In case of chronic hepatitis C, they are entirely useless. Apart from that, a prolonged medication based on low-efficiency medicines often cause negative side effects” commented Yuri Sinyavsky.

The researchers claim that the new medicine with the symbolic name “Renaissance” is unique in the world and no research institution in the world has been able to create something of the sort. According to project manager Murat Turlybekov, who also sponsored the research group, clinical tests of the medicine involving 119 volunteers were carried out in Almaty, Shymkent and the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek. “In 80% of cases, the test group patients completely recovered from the hepatitis virus” announced Murat Turlybekov. He stated that the curative effect of “Renaissance” is based on the use of iodine as a principal bactericide ingredient.

Most likely, the medicine could also be used to cure patients with food-and mouth disease, SARS and sugar diabetes. To prove the applicability of “Renaissance” for these diseases, additional research work should be conducted. If the efficiency of the medicine is recognized by Word Health Organization experts, the project will mean a large influx of foreign money into the chronically cash-strapped budget of the public health of Kazakhstan. Officials have calculated with 4 billion Tenge annually from the treatment of hepatitis alone. Researchers said that they had found the new medicine earlier but were overcautious not to disclose the news before all medical properties of the medicine were thoroughly tested in clinical conditions. The president of the national Nutrition Academy Toregeldy Sharmanov did not hesitate to call the medicine “the discovery of the twenty-first century”. Given the ongoing spread of infectious diseases in Kazakhstan, particularly in the South, that may not be too much of an exaggeration.

According to the Ministry of Health, in 2000 the index of infection with hepatitis B was 22.4 for 100,000 people. However, cases of infection with acute hepatitis B, as well as C type hepatitis, are not registered by statistics. Hepatitis is prevalent among children of pre-school age in densely populated South Kazakhstan, where the quality of sanitation in poverty-stricken villages is very poor. Infant immunization programs failed to reach targets due to insufficient funding. Hospitals are in poor state in these areas.

The high rate of hepatitis infection in Kazakhstan is mainly attributed to water pollution. Even in economically better-off North Kazakhstan, the majority of the rural population has to use open wells or lakes highly contaminated with pesticides and manure. Although adequate water supply is on top of the priorities of the three-year rural development programs, nothing worth of pride has been achieved over the last decade.

Speaking at the conference of medical workers in Petropavlovsk (North Kazakhstan), deputy minister of public health Aikan Akanov admitted that repeated attempts to reform the health system were largely counterproductive. “We were inconsistent in carrying out these reforms. As a result, 90% of the medical equipment is now hopelessly outdated. The concept of a private health care system is discredited by those who were responsible for the reforms” said Aikan Akanov, announcing in the same breath that the government is launching another program of reforming the public health system for the years 2005-2010 to replace the failed one.

The central point of the new state program is the planned increase of financial injections into the health care system from the present 2.6% of GDP volume to 4% in 2008. About $2 million is earmarked for next year to train medical specialists abroad. Most importantly, the program promises greater independence to regional health care departments in decision-making, shifting some of the 120 different functions, amassed in the hands of ministry officials, to the local level. Discouraged by repeated failures, medical workers and the public remain largely skeptical about these pompous declarations.

The public health system in Kazakhstan is one of the most corrupted sectors. Doctors are among the lowest paid category of salaried workers. Quite often, doctors with diplomas from medical colleges do not have adequate qualifications. Surprisingly, despite all this, Kazakhstan has talented medical researchers. If Kazakhstan is to develop its own pharmaceutical industry and medical science, the government may do well to provide financial support to research institutions.