#13 - JRL 7281
The Russia Journal
August 8, 2003
Editorial
Addressing the health crisis
The health standard of the Russian population is in general low. Trying to
quantify the situation, Health Minister Yury Sevchenko, in an article
published in Rossiskaya Gazeta on Tuesday, said that "only about 20 percent
of the population is healthy."
Let us repeat that figure: Only 20 percent. In other words, four out five
people in the Russian Federation are considered to be in a state of ill
health. That is a shocking statistic.
Of course, we recognize that "health" is a nebulous concept that is
hard to
really quantify or define. But it is beyond dispute that Russia has a
population that is both shrinking and aging at the same time. In addition
to dealing with a problem of a low birthrate, as are many Western European
countries, Russia has been plagued by a rapidly declining life expectancy
for men -- the current male life expectancy stands at about 58, a full 10
years less than it was just over a decade ago. (Average female life
expectancy, on the other hand, has decreased only slightly.) These deaths
are largely the result of cardiovascular diseases -- fostered by heavy
drinking and smoking -- and alcohol poisoning. In other words, they are to
a great extent the result of an unhealthy lifestyle on the part of many
Russian men.
This is of course not to say that things such as the reappearance of
tuberculosis and other diseases and, sometimes, a poor environment do not
play a role, but it is pretty clear that the main culprits in Russia's
health crisis are nicotine and alcohol. This is a problem that urgently
needs to be addressed, and it is one that the state really does have the
ability to do something about.
We are by no means taking a moralistic standpoint -- it is everyone's
choice how they want to live, within reason. But the poor choices being
made, especially by the young, are also an indicator of the general
disrepair the whole social structure of the country is in. Russians are
increasingly being driven towards drinking beer and vodka, smoking more
cigarettes and eating junk food by the explosion of foreign investments in
these sectors. Big tobacco, breweries and Big Macs were among the largest
and first foreign investors in the Russian economy. They have employed very
creative marketing tactics to slowly convert the whole nation into drinking
and smoking even more than they already were.
Aug. 8, 2003:
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