Kazakhstan’s registered syphilis incidence fell 21.9% from 2022 to 2025, surveillance study reports

Registered crude syphilis incidence in Kazakhstan declined from 10.5 cases per 100,000 population in 2022, representing 2,055 cases, to 8.2 per 100,000 in 2025, representing 1,678 cases, according to a national retrospective surveillance study. The reported reduction was 21.9% across the four-year period, with annual declines of 12.4% in 2023, 7.6% in 2024 and 3.5% in 2025. The study, described in the article abstract, used official national statistical collections issued by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Health.

It was a retrospective, nationwide descriptive ecological study of registered syphilis incidence and its regional, demographic, clinical, maternal and congenital distributions. National crude incidence was assessed for 2022–2025. Because an administrative reform in 2022 created the Abai, Ulytau and Zhetysu regions and changed the boundaries of their parent regions, the researchers used all 20 administrative units for directly comparable regional analyses covering 2023–2025.

Regional variation remained substantial in 2025, when registered incidence ranged from 2.7 to 17.7 cases per 100,000 population. The study’s Friedman test for repeated measures did not detect an overall difference in regional incidence across 2023–2025 (chi-square = 1.85, p = 0.397). Descriptive regional-to-national incidence rate ratios in 2025 ranged from 2.16 in Karaganda to 0.33 in Kyzylorda.

Between 2023 and 2025, the largest reported increase in regional incidence occurred in East Kazakhstan, at 113.5%, while Kyzylorda recorded the largest decrease, at 79.4%. These figures describe reported surveillance patterns and do not by themselves establish changes in transmission. The abstract reports a 39.8% decrease in syphilis cases among pregnant women and a 72.7% decrease in congenital syphilis cases from the 2023 peak.

The congenital syphilis case rate expressed per 100,000 live births fell from 2.84 in 2023 to 0.90 in 2025. Maternal and congenital indicators were summarized descriptively from annual administrative Form 12-STI aggregates, with the maternal and congenital measures also calculated per 100,000 live births. The authors concluded that Kazakhstan’s registered crude syphilis incidence declined during 2022–2025, while regional heterogeneity and persistent congenital cases remained.

They identified an important boundary to the interpretation: the outcome was registered surveillance incidence, so the observed decline may partly reflect differences in testing and reporting rather than transmission alone.

Subject of Research: National registered syphilis incidence and regional, maternal, and congenital patterns in Kazakhstan, 2022–2025

Article Title: Epidemiology of syphilis at the national level in Kazakhstan, 2022–2025

Article References: Syrym, N., Abdykalyk, A., Yespembetov, B., Islamov, Y., Bayev, A., Zherebtsova, L., Alpysbayeva, S., Sarmykova, M., Abdimukhtar, A., Tileukhanov, K., Toleukhan, A., Anarbekova, A., Serikbay, Y., Yerzhigit, B., Kaldyrkaev, A., & Shestakov, A. (2026). Epidemiology of syphilis at the national level in Kazakhstan, 2022–2025. BMC Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-29798-5

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12889-026-29798-5

Keywords: Kazakhstan, syphilis, surveillance, registered incidence, regional variation, pregnant women, congenital syphilis, public health, epidemiology, national, level, scientific research