How to assess the effectiveness of rehabilitation for persons with disabilities in Kazakhstan

In 2025, persons with disabilities received approximately 600,000 services through the Social Services Portal, while another 125,000 children underwent rehabilitation. However, to what extent do these figures reflect actual outcomes, and how do they affect the quality of life of persons with disabilities? These issues are examined by Chief Specialist at the Centre for Social Projects and Public Initiatives of the Institute of Parliamentarism Yenlik Bainazarova.

Rehabilitation for persons with disabilities is not merely about restoring health. It should enable individuals to live independently, pursue education and participate in employment. Accordingly, the effectiveness of government support should be assessed not only in terms of the volume of services provided, but also by the extent to which these services improve people’s lives.

The legal framework for this work in Kazakhstan is established by the Social Code and the Concept of Inclusive Policy for 2025–2030. The Concept envisages a transition towards the social and human rights-based models of disability. This approach focuses not only on an individual’s impairments, but also on the barriers that prevent them from participating fully in society.

For this approach to be effective in practice, medical, social and employment support must be delivered in a coordinated manner. This is the only way to move beyond the provision of individual services towards comprehensive rehabilitation centred on the needs of each individual.

Social Rehabilitation: Accessibility and Quality of Services

The Social Services Portal has become one of the key instruments of social rehabilitation. It enables persons with disabilities to independently select providers of assistive devices and certain support services.

According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population, 595,600 orders were fulfilled through the Portal in 2025. Approximately 440,000 of these concerned assistive devices, 119,300 related to sanatorium and resort treatment, 26,500 involved personal assistance services, and 9,800 concerned sign language interpretation services.

These figures demonstrate the considerable scale of the system. However, the number of orders alone does not provide a comprehensive picture of the quality of support. It is important to determine whether assistive devices meet individual needs, how quickly they are provided, and whether recipients can use them effectively in their everyday lives. Therefore, further development of the Portal should be accompanied by assessments of recipients’ satisfaction with the goods and services provided.

Medical Rehabilitation: New Centres and Home-Based Support

The rehabilitation of children is of particular importance, as timely intervention can significantly influence the development of essential skills and a child’s future independence.

According to the Ministry of Health, 125,000 children received rehabilitation services in 2025. As part of the Qamqorlyq project, six new inter-district rehabilitation centres were established.

In addition to specialised centres, alternative forms of support are also being developed. The project entitled “QH: Home-Based Rehabilitation for Children with Disabilities”, implemented by the National Scientific Centre for the Development of Social Protection and the Qazaqstan Khalkyna Public Foundation, reached 642 children. Improvements were recorded in 500 of these cases.

Such initiatives make rehabilitation more accessible and enable children to receive support in a familiar home environment. However, assessing their long-term effectiveness requires monitoring not only the number of children reached and initial improvements, but also whether these outcomes are sustained, whether children’s everyday living skills continue to develop, whether there are sufficient qualified specialists, and whether families receive adequate support.

Medical rehabilitation should form part of a continuous support pathway, extending from health recovery to social adaptation and inclusion. If, after completing a course of treatment, an individual does not receive the necessary assistive devices, home-based services or follow-up support, the progress achieved may not translate into greater independence.

Inaccessible transport, buildings and public spaces present an additional barrier. Medical organisations, social services and local executive bodies must therefore work in a coordinated manner, while rehabilitation programmes must take into account the environments in which individuals live, study and work.

Access to services across the regions also requires particular attention. Assessing regional disparities requires comparable data on waiting times, the availability of qualified specialists and opportunities to access rehabilitation services within one’s place of residence.

Employment: Opportunities and Challenges

An important stage of rehabilitation is returning to employment. This enables persons with disabilities to apply their skills and capabilities and achieve greater economic independence.

Kazakhstan has introduced employment quotas, employer subsidies, vocational training and other employment support measures. Nevertheless, official data indicate that significant challenges remain. As of November, 1, 2025, 111,000 persons with disabilities were employed, representing approximately 30% of all persons with disabilities of working age.

In 2025, 8,100 persons with disabilities were employed under the quota system. This was less than half the planned target.

These figures demonstrate the importance of assessing not only the availability of support measures, but also their actual effectiveness. To this end, vocational training should be aligned more closely with employers’ needs, workplace accommodations should be expanded, individuals should receive employment support throughout the recruitment and integration process, and their continued employment should be monitored after subsidies have ended.

How to Improve the Rehabilitation System

Statistics indicate that Kazakhstan is expanding access to social and medical rehabilitation, introducing new forms of support and continuing to promote the employment of persons with disabilities.

The next step is to improve the system by moving away from counting the number of services delivered towards assessing their actual outcomes and impact.

In healthcare, priority should be given to monitoring continuity of care and the sustainability of rehabilitation outcomes. In the social sphere, the focus should be on how quickly individuals receive assistive devices, whether services are accessible and how satisfied recipients are with their quality. In employment, the key indicators should include actual employment outcomes and job retention.

To achieve this, Kazakhstan should establish a unified framework for evaluating rehabilitation outcomes, introduce comparable performance indicators across regions, and strengthen coordination among healthcare organisations, social services and employment authorities.

It is equally important to ensure that persons with disabilities themselves, together with their representative organisations, participate in evaluating service quality and identifying priorities for public policy.

Ultimately, the success of rehabilitation should be measured not by the number of support measures provided, but by the extent to which they help individuals overcome barriers, expand their opportunities and participate fully in society.