Uzbekistan has some serious health problems. Epidemics have been caused by high pollution levels, especially in Aral Sea region. Infant mortality increased very fast beginning in the 1970s. Among the most common diseases are those associated with polluted drinking water: typhoid, hepatitis, dysentery, cholera, and various types of cancer. The chief causes of death are, in order of frequency, disorders of the cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive systems and infectious and parasitic diseases. (Source: Library of Congress February 2007).
According to Azimov, Mutalova, Huseynov, Tsoyi, Rechel: “Diseases of the circulatory system (mainly ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease) are the most common causes of death in Uzbekistan. The mortality rate from diseases of the circulatory system has increased in Uzbekistan since the 1980s, a development that mirrors the trends in other countries of central Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), but contrasts with trends in Western Europe, where mortality from this group of causes of death has continuously declined in recent decades. Also similarly to other countries of the region, there has been a resurgence of tuberculosis in the years after independence, as well as an increase in multi-drug and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, and HIV infections have increased steeply in the 2000s and early 2010s. (Source: “Uzbekistan: Health System Review” by Azimov, Mutalova, Huseynov, Tsoyi, Rechel, Health Systems in Transition, 2014).
Goiter, caused by a lack of iodine is a problem in some places. For treatment some people live in salt caves so they can breathe in air rich in iodized salt. Until a hundred years ago Bukhara was laced with canals and more than 200 stone pools, known as hauz, that brought in water for drinking, bathing and washing as well as a host of diseases—such as the Bukhara boil, which has been compared guinea worm disease—that lowered the average lifespan of the city to 32. The Soviets filed all the canals and pools—except for one, Lab-i-Hauz. Not surprisingly disease rates plummeted.
About Uzbekistan Healthcare reforms-
Uzbekistan is a central Asian country that became independent in 1991 with the break-up of the Soviet Union. Since then, it has embarked on several major health reforms covering health care provision, governance and financing, with the aim of improving efficiency while ensuring equitable access. Primary care in rural areas has been changed to a two-tiered system, while specialized polyclinics in urban areas are being transformed into general polyclinics covering all groups of the urban population. Secondary care is financed on the basis of past expenditure and inputs (and increasingly self-financing through user fees), while financing of primary care is increasingly based on capitation. There are also efforts to improve allocative efficiency, with a slowly increasing share of resources devoted to the reformed primary health care system. Health care provision has largely remained in public ownership but nearly half of total health care expenditure comes from private sources, mostly in the form of out-of-pocket expenditure. There is a basic benefits package, which includes primary care, emergency care and care for certain, disease and population categories. Yet secondary care and outpatient pharmaceuticals are not included in the benefits package for most of the population, and the reliance on private health expenditure results in inequities and catastrophic expenditure for households. While the share of public expenditure is slowly increasing, financial protection thus remains an area of concern. Quality of care is another area that is receiving increasing attention.
Uzbekistan ina matatizo makubwa ya afya. Magonjwa ya kuambukiza yamesababishwa na viwango vya juu vya uchafuzi wa hewa, hasa katika eneo la Bahari ya Aral. Kiwango cha vifo vya watoto wachanga kiliongezeka kwa kasi kuanzia miaka ya 1970. Miongoni mwa magonjwa ya kawaida ni yale yanayohusiana na maji machafu ya kunywa: homa ya tifoidi, ugonjwa wa ini, ugonjwa wa kuhara, kolera, na aina mbalimbali za kansa. Sababu kuu za kifo ni, kwa utaratibu wa mzunguko, matatizo ya mfumo wa moyo, mfumo wa kupumua, na mfumo wa kumeng'enya chakula na magonjwa ya kuambukiza na ya vimelea. (Chanzo: Maktaba ya Congress Februari 2007). Kulingana na Azimov, Mutalova, Huseynov, Tsoyi, Rechel: <unk>Ugonjwa wa mfumo wa mzunguko wa damu (hasa ugonjwa wa moyo wa ischemic na ugonjwa wa mishipa ya ubongo) ni sababu za kawaida za kifo nchini Uzbekistan. Kiwango cha vifo kutokana na magonjwa ya mfumo wa mzunguko wa damu imepanda nchini Uzbekistan tangu miaka ya 1980, maendeleo ambayo yanaonyesha mwenendo katika nchi nyingine za Asia ya Kati na Jumuiya ya Mataifa ya Uhuru (CIS), lakini inatofautiana na mwenendo katika Ulaya Magharibi, ambapo vifo kutokana na kundi hili la sababu za kifo vimepungua kwa kuendelea katika miongo ya hivi karibuni. Kama ilivyo katika nchi nyingine za mkoa huo, kumekuwa na ongezeko la ugonjwa wa kifua kikuu katika miaka ya baada ya uhuru, pamoja na ongezeko la ugonjwa wa kifua kikuu unaoweza kuathiriwa na dawa nyingi na wenye sugu kwa dawa nyingi, na maambukizi ya HIV yameongezeka sana katika miaka ya 2000 na mapema 2010. "Uzbekistan: Mapitio ya Mfumo wa Afya "" (Uzbekistan: Health System Review) na Azimov, Mutalova, Huseynov, Tsoyi, Rechel, Mfumo wa Afya katika Mabadiliko, 2014)." Goiter, inayosababishwa na ukosefu wa iodini ni tatizo katika sehemu fulani. Kwa ajili ya matibabu watu fulani huishi katika mapango ya chumvi ili waweze kupumua hewa yenye chumvi yenye iodini. "Hata miaka mia moja iliyopita, Bukhara ilikuwa na mifereji na zaidi ya vidimbwi vya mawe 200 vinavyoitwa ""hauz"" ambavyo vilileta maji ya kunywa, kuoga na kuosha pamoja na idadi kubwa ya magonjwa kama vile ""Bukhara boil"" ambayo imepimwa na ugonjwa wa minyoo ya Guinea ambayo ilipunguza wastani wa maisha ya mji hadi 32."" Wasovieti waliharibu mifereji yote na vidimbwi - isipokuwa moja, Lab-i-Hauz. Haishangazi kwamba idadi ya magonjwa ilipungua sana. Uzbekistan ni nchi ya Asia ya Kati ambayo ilipata uhuru wake mwaka 1991 baada ya kuvunjika kwa Muungano wa Sovieti. Tangu wakati huo, imezindua mageuzi kadhaa makubwa ya afya, ikiwa ni pamoja na utoaji wa huduma za afya, utawala na ufadhili, kwa lengo la kuboresha ufanisi wakati wa kuhakikisha upatikanaji wa usawa. Huduma za msingi katika maeneo ya vijijini zimebadilishwa kuwa mfumo wa ngazi mbili, wakati kliniki maalumu katika maeneo ya mijini zinabadilishwa kuwa kliniki za jumla zinazofunika makundi yote ya idadi ya watu wa mijini. Huduma ya sekondari ni kufadhiliwa kwa msingi wa matumizi ya zamani na pembejeo (na zaidi ya kujitegemea fedha kupitia malipo ya watumiaji), wakati fedha ya huduma ya msingi ni zaidi ya msingi juu ya captation. Pia kuna juhudi za kuboresha ufanisi wa mgawanyo, na sehemu ya polepole inayoongezeka ya rasilimali zinazotumika kwa mfumo wa huduma ya msingi ya afya iliyobadilishwa. Huduma za afya zimekuwa katika umiliki wa umma, lakini karibu nusu ya jumla ya gharama za huduma za afya zinatoka kwa vyanzo vya kibinafsi, hasa katika fomu ya gharama za nje ya mfuko. Kuna mfuko wa faida za msingi, ambayo inajumuisha huduma ya msingi, huduma ya dharura na huduma kwa baadhi ya, magonjwa na makundi ya idadi ya watu. Hata hivyo, huduma za sekondari na dawa za nje hazijumuishiwa katika mfuko wa faida kwa idadi kubwa ya watu, na kutegemea kwa matumizi ya afya ya kibinafsi husababisha ukosefu wa usawa na matumizi mabaya kwa kaya. Wakati sehemu ya matumizi ya umma ni polepole kuongezeka, ulinzi wa kifedha hivyo bado ni eneo la wasiwasi. Ubora wa utunzaji ni eneo jingine ambalo linapata uangalifu unaozidi kuongezeka.