Kazakhstan unveils first-ever individual breast milk bank
The perinatology and pediatric cardiac surgery center of Almaty city for the first time ever launched a new project, the individual breast milk bank, Kazinform News Agency learnt from the Kazakh Healthcare Ministry.
The important social project is initiated by the Kazakh Healthcare Ministry and is implemented by AYALA Charitable Fund. It is called to save the lives of the most vulnerable patients, such as prematurely-born babies and infants with special medical needs who cannot get their own mother's milk.
The individual breast milk bank is an important initiative to provide newborns who need intensive care treatment with life-saving breast milk. It is also crucial to support mothers whose babies are staying in intensive care units.
Breast milk will be pumped out into sterile individual containers. Containers will be labelled with the baby's name, date and time of collection under the supervision of a nurse. Raw breast milk will be stored in a freezer at -18…-20 °С or a refrigerator at 4 ± 2 °С.
The Ministry plans to open such banks in perinatal centers of Kazakhstan that treat women with high-risk pregnancies and preterm babies and infants with low birth weight.
Notably, in 2024, the infant mortality rate in Kazakhstan dropped 8.3% to 7.05 per 1,000 births from 7.67 per 1,000 births in a year before.
