Photojournalism of pulmonary rehabilitation in Kyrgyzstan

A photojournalist documents a visit to Kyrgyzstan and the implementation of pulmonary rehabilitation
Marat Akimovich Sagymbaev: Director of the Krygyz Research Institute of Balneology and Recovery Treatment. Image: Carey Marks

Creative Associate and photojournalist Carey Marks accompanied the team on a visit to Kyrgyzstan. The purpose of this visit was to assess the implementation of pulmonary rehabilitation in Kyrgyzstan and consider its cultural adaptation to main hospitals and other locations.

Apart from meeting with the scientific team and the rehab teams, there were also visits to a sanatorium of the “Kyrgyzskoe Vzmorye” in the Issyk Khul lake to explore adapting the programme for use in short-stay visitors to the sanatorium, and remote sites in the mountainous Narin region to explore the possibility of running adapted rehab programs in small towns and villages. There was emphasis on cultural adaptation, including the potential benefits of using music and dance to promote both the enjoyment of the programme and the maintenance of exercise thereafter.

Maria: A General Practitioner, At-Bashi, Naryn District, Krygyzstan. Image: Carey Marks
Maria: A General Practitioner, At-Bashi, Naryn District, Krygyzstan. Image: Carey Marks
Tuberculosis patients resting on the broken bench outside Bishkek Tuberculosis sanatorium. Image: Carey Marks
Tuberculosis patients resting on the broken bench outside Bishkek Tuberculosis sanatorium. Image: Carey Marks
Patient at Krygyz Research Institute of Balneology and Recovery Treatment. This patient has dedicated his treatment to using rehab in an effort to overcome his disease. Image: Carey Marks
Patient at Krygyz Research Institute of Balneology and Recovery Treatment. This patient has dedicated his treatment to using rehab in an effort to overcome his disease. Image: Carey Marks
Patient at Krygyz Research Institute of Balneology and Recovery Treatment. Interestingly, it doesn’t take much to move people from the formal expressions in portraits into a much warmer mood. Image: Carey Marks
Patient at Krygyz Research Institute of Balneology and Recovery Treatment. Interestingly, it doesn’t take much to move people from the formal expressions in portraits into a much warmer mood. Image: Carey Marks

Creative Associates 2018

The Sustainable Earth Institute’s Creative Associates Awards brings together researchers with creative industry organisations to explore and fund novel and innovative ways of communicating research.

Carey Marks was linked with this project as a portrait, research and documentary photographer, and has also worked on the University of Plymouth’s Jali Ardhi, or ‘care for the land’ project.

Goatherd in Kyrgyzstan. Image: Carey Marks
Image: Carey Marks/Creative Associates