| Health care system in Russia |
| The Soviet Union was the first country in the world to provide health services to the entire population as a public service funded from the state treasury. In spite of what may be perceived as shortcomings in clinical care, health indices improved substantially during the Soviet years, due in no small part to improved living conditions.39 Yet health status in Russia was hugely compromised in 1991. This was due particularly to the failure of the soviet health care system to anticipate epidemiological shifts and the importance of non-communicable diseases. Even more significant was the chaos which followed the break-up of the Soviet Union. |
| |
All health matters on Russian territory … have been profoundly affected by the break-up of the Soviet Union and the creation of the Federation. A highly centralised command economy has been replaced by an increasingly loose group of states and all those areas of certainty, guaranteed by the Soviet monolith, are now open to negotiation. Russian health services are no exception and, against a background of economic and political turmoil, planners and providers are struggling to adapt structures and regulations to a new and uncertain environment.40 |
|
| Irene Salmon, a Marie Curie nurse who spent two years in Russia writes of the challenges that face palliative care : |
| |
There is a very strong death/dying taboo in Russia, and an even stronger cancer taboo…In Soviet times it was illegal for a doctor to tell a patient of a diagnosis of cancer. This law was only recently repealed, so doctors remain reluctant to communicate this information to patients.
Palliative care, with its philosophy of providing complete care through a multi-disciplinary team, challenges the inflexible hierarchies customary in the Russian health care system. Rigid adherence to the medical model of health care provision results in doctor-led care. There are no physiotherapists or occupational therapists and social workers equate to "home helps" in the UK. 41 |
|
Today, with the rise of the AIDS epidemic, Russia is facing an increasingly serious challenge. In his 2003 study, Murray Feshbach reports that Russia and Ukraine have the fastest growing rates of new HIV/AIDS cases in the world. If current trends continue, Feshbach suggests that by 2020, 5-14 million Russians will be living with HIV and 250,000-650,000 will die from AIDS annually. Within this scenario, Russia's current population of 144 million could fall as low as 77 million by 2050 if the AIDS epidemic is factored in. 42 |
| Health care expenditure (US$) per capita, Commonwealth of Independent States and Mongolia |
 |
| Source: WHO Regional Office for European Health for All database and HiTs |
Russia ’s current total health expenditure per capita (international dollars) is Int $454, which is 5.4% of GDP (WHO 2001) |
|
Top | Russia Homepage | Regions & Countries | Countries A-Z
Observatory Home | Global Analysis Home |
Your Location: Global Analysis Home > Countries A-Z > Russia > Health Care System