24 August 2003 11:49
RUSSIA: ALCOHOL GETS LARGE SHARE OF THE BLAME
According to the weekly, the leading causes of death in Russia are typical neither of developed nor developing
countries. One important factor in the high death rate is alcohol consumption, and there is a close direct correlation
between the alcohol consumption per person and the death rate. After the antialcohol campaign launched by former Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986, the death rate fell. According to Aleksandr Nemtsov, director of the information and
research department of the Moscow Psychiatric Scientific Research Institute, alcohol consumption correlates not only
with the general death-rate dynamics -- when it increases, the death rate increases -- but also with many other leading
causes for death -- with the exception of infectious diseases. JAC Copyright (c) 2003. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the
permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
[AIW [Asia Africa Intelligence Wire]] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
