Ekois-Bishkek works in the national project «Strengthening Health Systems to Reduce Lead Exposure» (Kyrgyzstan)

The project is being implemented with financial and organizational support of Pure Earth/Blacksmith Institute by members of the Civil Society Association “Ekois Bishkek,” current EHPMI member organization, and the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic under the Government of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan
Funder: Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited 
Project dates: 2022-2027 
Project implementers: Ekois-Bishkek, Pure Earth, Vital Strategies, the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic
Total cost: $600 000 

Strengthening Health Systems to Reduce Lead Exposure is a partnership between Pure Earth and the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic to strengthen national healthcare system to better prevent, identify, and treat lead poisoning.

Today, 1 in 3 children – 800 million – have enough lead in their blood to cause permanent neurological, cognitive, and physical harm. It is one of the most urgent, yet underrecognized, children’s health issues of our time.

Over 90 percent of the burden of lead poisoning falls on children in low- and middle-income countries. Despite the enormous long-term health and economic harms of lead exposure, these countries lack systems and technical capacity to effectively address it. The newly-released WHO Guideline for Clinical Management of Exposure to Lead provides a unique opportunity through which to accelerate country responses to lead poisoning.

Goal Statement:

Protect children from lead poisoning, enabling them to reach their full potential, by strengthening countries’ health care systems to identify, monitor, treat, and reduce toxic childhood lead exposure. 

Project Objectives:

• Strengthen the state health system and improve environmental health data collection by design and implement new national program to identify, monitor and reduce lead exposure.
• Provide clinical guidance and training for health professionals on rapid data collection, integration, analysis, and dissemination of information about lead exposure. Strengthen the ability of healthcare professionals to early identify, treat, and prevent lead poisoning.
• Increase knowledge about sources and pathways of exposure of children to lead, and educate communities and children about lead poisoning and ways to avoid/mitigate risks.

Over the next 5 years, the Ministry of Health will design and implement new national program to identify, monitor and reduce lead exposure. By enhancing clinical education and guidelines, strengthening health surveillance technology, and educating teachers and parents on the dangers of lead, country will be able to better protect children and future generations from lead poisoning. Such an approach has never before been employed at such scale in low- and middle-income countries.