At almost any hour of the day — or night — you can find Gulzat walking the roads of Jerge-Tal village, located in the mountainous Naryn region of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Traversing winter snow or dusty summer roads, she goes from house to house, checking on newborns, pregnant women, older patients with chronic illnesses, and community members who have come to trust her as their first point of care.
Gulzat is a family nurse who works at the Group of Family Doctors No. 8, a primary health clinic that serves roughly 6,000 residents across three rural villages. She is part of a small medical team providing essential care in a region where access to health services is limited by transportation, distance, and a shortage of medical facilities and staff.
Gulzat’s medical career began in the city of Naryn, where she worked in the gynecology department at the Naryn Oblast Hospital. She and her husband moved to Jerge-Tal village in 1999, where she worked as a midwife before becoming a nurse.
“Since 2012, I have been working as a family nurse,” says Gulzat. “We conduct household visits, and from the moment a child is born, we take the family under our supervision.”
Newborns are visited at three, 14, and 21 days after birth, then at regular checkpoints until the age of five. Pregnant women are monitored throughout each trimester, with more frequent visits if complications arise. Family nurses also oversee patients with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and asthma — many of whom require lifelong monitoring. “We conduct preventive visits as well, including household visits to educate people. Sometimes we identify seasonal illnesses [or] when there is a risk of disease spread, we educate people,” says Gulzat.
Nurses like Gulzat are each assigned a neighbourhood, where they are the first point of contact for many residents. Gulzat oversees an area of approximately 700 residents. “We walk in all seasons,” Gulzat says. “Sometimes patients call us even at midnight, sometimes we provide emergency care…. [Patients] who have a car, they pick us up; otherwise, we go on foot.”
For families like Gulanda’s, this dedication makes all the difference. “[Gulzat] constantly looks after the four of us,” says Gulanda, referring to herself, her husband, her son, and her mother. “She tells us if a vaccination is needed… She checks blood pressure, asks if we have medications, how we feel.”
With support from Canada, Gulzat travelled to Pakistan for a three-month training program for healthcare workers. She visited hospitals and emergency care facilities to observe and learn on-site.
“We practiced things we don’t do here, tried to learn new methods, and we learned to use new equipment,” says Gulzat. While some of what she learned could not be applied back home due to the lack of infrastructure and equipment, the training refreshed her skills and reinforced her confidence.
“That was an exchange of experience for us,” says Gulzat. “I saw a new country, got acquainted with a new culture, lived together with [medical] students, spoke with them, and learned more about their mentality. I gained useful knowledge.”
Following the in-person training, Gulzat and her colleagues completed an additional six months of online training focused on breast cancer. They then conducted surveys among women in the community, assessing their health, and providing preventative care tailored to their needs to reduce risk of breast cancer. As part of this, free ultrasound examinations were organized for women in the area. “Those who couldn’t afford it [before] were able to do so. Early detection helped some start treatment in time,” says Gulzat.
Support from Canada also funded infrastructure repairs at the Group of Family Doctors No. 8 facility, which had not been repaired since the building’s construction in 1975. This included roof repairs, as well as the construction of a fence around the facility.
The hospital also received telemedicine equipment, making care accessible to patients who cannot travel, as healthcare workers can consult with specialists located in other towns and cities.
In 2014, Canadian investments helped establish a parent school at the clinic, a dedicated room in the clinic for expectant parents. Canadian support continues to support the parent school by providing updated, quality resources and training for healthcare workers on maternal, newborn, and child health. Gulzat is an instructor at the parent school.
Through regularly scheduled, free sessions, parents learn how to support healthy pregnancies, assist during delivery, and care for children under three. Developmental toys, workshops, and practical guidance have made the school a safe and accessible learning space for families.
“I attend Gulzat’s classes whenever I can. Compared to the past, there are now many useful materials and brochures available for pregnant women, whereas before, there was limited information,” says Bagai.
“My husband also attends trainings whenever he has free time,” adds Bagai. “I don’t want to boast, but my husband cooks, brings us food, gives me messages, carries heavy bags himself, and does not let me take on such physical strain.”
“Healthy mothers give birth to healthy children, and this leads to a healthy nation,” says Gulzat.
Dedicated nurses like Gulzat are a constant presence for families and residents of Jerge-Tal, walking beside them through different stages of life — pregnancy, illness, emergency, recovery — helping to build healthier communities with every step.
Gulzat is one of the thousands of healthcare workers supported by Global Affairs Canada through the Foundations for Health and Empowerment (F4HE) program. F4HE aims to improve the health and well-being of women, girls, their families, and their communities in Afghanistan, India, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, and Tajikistan.