It turns out that capitalism was not the cause of Russia’s current (largely alcohol-related) mortality crisis. From an NBER working paper by Bhattacharya, Gathmann, and Miller (2012): Political and economic transition is often blamed for Russia’s 40% surge in deaths between 1990 and 1994. Highlighting that increases in mortality occurred primarily among alcohol-related causes and [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Physicians, Patients, and Medical Care in Russia
Russian patients rarely visit a general practitioner and generally do not believe that they should see a medical professional when they feel unwell, according to new findings from the National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS), conducted by Kantar Health. The NHWS is a large, international self-reported annual patient survey with responses from patients in the U.S., Europe, [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Get rich quick; Have a baby in Russia
NPR’s All Things Considered has an interesting report on health care in Russia. A few items that caught my eye ear: Russia offers birth bonuses of $9,500. In Russia each year, there are more abortions than live births. The wait for an MRI in Russia can be over 2 months. Doctors are often-well trained, but [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis in Russia
Merrill Goozner writes about MDR-TB in Russia in a four-part feature article in Scientific American.
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