The Almaty Marathon helps bring new innovations for improving children’s health

“Courage to be the First” Corporate Fund together with AYALA Charitable Foundation continues to implement its measures to reduce the infant disability rate in Kazakhstan. This year, a portion of entry fees paid by the Almaty Marathon runners and support provided by our partners will help us implement two unique projects with a total budget of KZT 145,000,000. The projects’ goal is to help children avoid disability and give them chance for a happy future.

Let’s Breathe Life: the project initiating the unique treatment in Kazakhstan.

According to the information from Kazakhstan Ministry of Health, vascular malformations are a congenital disease that causes children to experience pain, bleeding and organ dysfunction, and can result in severe cosmetic defects. In Kazakhstan, medical care for this diagnosis is not yet available, so families are forced to seek treatment abroad. In 2021-2024, the local government has allocated over KZT 437 million for these purposes.

Thanks to the Almaty Marathon athletes and partners, the Scientific Centre of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery in Almaty will receive state-of-the-art equipment enabling doctors to treat Kazakhstani children with vascular anomalies. A team of doctors from the centre will also undergo training at a leading German clinic specialising in the treatment of vascular malformations. The project will enable up to 100 procedures per year and help up to 50 children annually.

Galimzhan Yessenov, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at “Courage to be the First” Corporate Fund, says, “The Almaty Marathon is not just about sports. Thousands of runners running various distances in different cities across Kazakhstan come together for the sake of annual charitable events. In September, with the 14^th Almaty Marathon we are launching two new projects with the ultimate goal of ensuring healthy and happy life for children. We are inspired to be part of a new chapter in the development of children’s healthcare in Kazakhstan, alongside the Ministry of Health and AYALA Charitable Foundation.”

The project will be implemented by the end of 2026 and will hep preserve the quality of life for children across the country.

‘I See the World’: light in the eyes of premature babies 

Retinopathy of prematurity is a disease that has no visible symptoms. Parents look at their newborn and have no idea that their baby could go blind at any moment. Only a highly qualified neonatal ophthalmologist using specialised equipment can diagnose and treat this disease in time. 

In 2025, the organisations installed a retinal camera at Shymkent Municipal Perinatal Centre, enabling hundreds of premature babies to receive timely diagnoses and necessary treatment. Following its successful launch, the project will be initiated in Turkistan Region, where more than 60,000 children are born each year, around 5,000 of whom are premature.

The Regional Perinatal Centre No. 3 in Turkistan will be equipped with a laser device to treat aggressive forms of retinopathy in premature babies. This means that doctors will no longer need to transport children urgently to Shymkent or Almaty, which poses an additional risk. 

As part of the ‘I See the World’ project, the visual disability rate among newborns has been reduced to almost zero in many regions of Kazakhstan over the past five years. The laser device in Turkistan Region will enable 90% of necessary retinal interventions to be performed locally, thereby reducing the risk of childhood blindness due to retinopathy and other pathologies.

Both projects introduce state-of-the-art medical technologies in Kazakhstan. For some children, these technologies offer the chance to eliminate vascular pathology and pain, while for others they help preserve their ability to see. 

The Almaty Marathon is the largest running event in Central Asia. Since 2012, it has implemented more than 30 charitable projects worth over KZT 300 million. The 14^th Marathon will take place on 28 September and bring together 16 thousand runners. Two new records have already been set before the run: the number of foreign participants exceeds 1,200, and 1,500 runners have already registered for the 42.2 km marathon.