Mortality Rates of Ventricular Septal Defect for Children in Kazakhstan: Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Appraisal

Objective: The aim is to study the trends in ventricular septal defect (VSD) mortality in children in Kazakhstan.Methods: The retrospective study was done for the period 2011–2020. Descriptive and analytical methods of epidemiologywere applied. The universally acknowledged methodology used in sanitary statistics is used to calculatethe extensive, crude, and age-specific mortality rates. Results: Kazakhstan is thought to be seeing an increase inmortality from VSDs in children. As a result, this study for the years 2011 to 2020 was conducted to retrospectivelyassess data from the central registration of the Bureau of National Statistics that was available throughoutthe nation. Age-standardized mortality data were obtained and compared between age categories. It was shownthat 507 children died from this condition throughout the time period under study. The average annual standardizedmortality rate was 1.88 per 100,000 population and tended to decrease over time. The peak of mortality wasnoted at the age of up to 1 year, namely the neonatal period. Cartogram mortality rates were calculated usingstandardized indicators. Additionally, age-sex variations were taken into account when performing all calculations.Conclusion: In recent years, the death rate from VSD has declined from 1.5 to 0.6 per 100,000 people, withthe trend remaining constant (T = 1.4%, R^(2) = 0.5825). The analysis of mortality trends related to VSD is crucial inboth theoretical and practical aspects, as it enables early detection and treatment of VSDs. The findings of thisstudy will be valuable to public health authorities in developing a strategy to treat VSDs effectively.

The Challenge and promise of rare disease diagnosis in China

Rare diseases are chronic and serious,featuring early onset at birth or in childhood,rapid deterioration and high mortality rate,which creates a burden on society and public health systems.Of the known rare diseases,80 percent are genetic in origin,and half of those affected worldwide are children.In China,the rare disease patients are over 10 million,and70 percent of the patients are children(Song et al.,2012;Liu et al.,2010).

Conversations in accountability:Perspectives from three charities

Objective:The conversations in accountability were designed to gain an understanding of the use and changes to accountability in charities over time,including learning how results are measured.Methods:As part of a larger study which investigated accountability in charities working to reduce mortality of children younger than 5 years in least developed countries,a multiple-case study comprising semistructured in-depth key informant interviews was conducted to investigate the use and effects of accountability in three charities of differing sizes.Results:Smaller charities tend to use fewer accountability mechanisms than larger ones,whereas the variation in their use between small and medium-sized charities is greater than the variation between medium-sized and large charities.Conclusion:Although accountability has changed over time,charities believe that they are providing the correct amount of accountability-that is,enough to satisfy the perceived demands of their stakeholders but not so much that it detracts from the mission or incurs costs in excess of benefits.However,the tools to determine effectiveness and impact are lacking.