Kyrgyzstan's health care system has remained state-run following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Primary health care is being restructured using a family group practice model. As of 1999, there were an estimated 3 physicians and 9.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people. Approximately 26% of the country's hospital beds were eliminated between 1990 and 1996, but hospital expenditures still account for more than 70% of health care spending. As of 1999, total health care expenditure was estimated at 4.4% of GDP.
The infant mortality rate in 2000 was 23 per 1,000 live births and the maternal mortality rate in 1998 was 65 per 100,000 live births. As of 2002, the crude birth rate and overall mortality rate were estimated at, respectively, 26.1 and 9.1 per 1,000 people. Major causes of death in 1990 (per 100,000 people) were communicable diseases and maternal/perinatal causes, 124; noncommunicable diseases, 651; and injuries, 95. Between 1990 and 1994, immunization rates for children up to one year old were tuberculosis, 97%, and polio, 84%. As of 1999 the rates for DPT and measles immunizations were, respectively, 98% and 97%. Tuberculosis incidence and mortality rates are rising steeply, reflecting economic hardship and the deterioration of the health infrastructure. In 1999, there were 130 cases of tuberculosis per 1,000 people. Controlled for 30 years, diphtheria has reemerged since the breakup of the Soviet Union. In 1994, there were 489 new cases of diphtheria. Nearly 50% of these cases occurred in persons 15 or under. The cancer mortality rates in Kyrgyzstan were higher than the medium human development countries during 1990–1993. In 2000, life expectancy was 67 years for both men and women.
In 1999 the number of people living with HIV/AIDS and deaths from AIDS were both under 100. HIV prevalence was less than 0.01 per 100 adults.