17.02.2026

In summer of 2025, AYALA Charity Foundation received a letter from Zharkent. In the city’s maternity hospital, almost all of the equipment in the neonatal intensive care unit had broken down. New equipment could only be expected in a year and only if budget funding was approved. For saving children’s lives, the cost of such a wait is too high.

Realizing that every minute without necessary life-support equipment could cost a newborn its life, the Foundation immediately began searching for a partner. By September, the maternity hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit had been fully equipped. Neonatologists received 22 units of equipment — mechanical ventilators and CPAP devices, incubators, patient monitors, resuscitation tables, and phototherapy lamps. The doctors completed training led by Bekturgan Karin, the Leading Neonatologist of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the unit began operating at a new level.

Five months have passed.

During this time, 506 newborns have been cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit of the Zharkent maternity hospital. These are children who required round-the-clock medical supervision, respiratory support, and intensive therapy in the first hours and days of their lives.

Nearly a hundred babies received round-the-clock monitoring of their vital signs. Twenty newborns required respiratory support with CPAP devices to help their lungs gradually begin functioning. Five children were on mechanical ventilation — during the most critical moments, when breathing cannot yet be sustained without the assistance of a machine.

Three hundred infants received treatment for toxic jaundice under phototherapy lamps and avoided severe health complications and disability. Thirty-nine children were in incubators, where a stable temperature is constantly maintained and conditions are created as close as possible to the warmth of their mother. In fifty-two cases, resuscitation procedures were performed on special tables during the most critical moments — immediately after birth.

Every figure means a child’s life and a family’s destiny. One can only imagine what their future might have held without the Foundation’s urgent assistance.

Here is a case that took place at the Zharkent maternity hospital in January 2026. A baby was born with severe asphyxia and an extremely low Apgar score. His condition was critical. For four days, he was on mechanical ventilation. Then the baby needed CPAP support and ongoing oxygen therapy. After resuscitation, the neonatologists continued caring for this newborn for another 19 days. Their efforts led to an excellent outcome — the baby was discharged home in satisfactory condition!

Nurbolat Seitbekov, Deputy Director for Maternal and Child Health at the Panfilov Multidisciplinary Interdistrict Hospital in Zharkent, notes:

“Our medical team received a complete set of equipment, and this has saved the lives of half a thousand newborns in just the first five months of its use, reduced the likelihood of severe complications, and ensured safe care from the first minutes of a child’s life in our maternity hospital. We express our sincere gratitude to AYALA Foundation for this vital support of our daily clinical practice.”

For Zhetysu region, which is among the three regions with the highest neonatal mortality rates in Kazakhstan, the achievements of the Zharkent maternity hospital in saving newborn lives is of special significance.

Aidan Suleimenova, Founder and President of AYALA Charity Foundation, emphasizes:

“The goal of our Breathe In Life project is to support the state in reducing neonatal mortality in Kazakhstan. We have been implementing it for 19 years because we understand that the quality of life and the entire future of a child depend on the speed and timeliness of medical care. Of course, the results of using our equipment in Zharkent are inspiring. We hope that thanks to the joined efforts of doctors, the Foundation, and our partners, we will see positive changes in the dynamics of neonatal mortality in this region in the very near future.”