| 1. |
- McKee, M, et al.
(author)
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Access to water in the countries of the former Soviet Union
- 2006
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In: Public Health. - : Elsevier BV. - 0033-3506 .- 1476-5616. ; 120:4, s. 364-372
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: During the Soviet period, authorities in the USSR invested heavily in collective farming and modernization of living conditions in rural areas. However, many problems remained, including poor access to many basic amenities such as water. Since then, the situation is likely to have changed; economic decline has coincided with migration and widening social inequalities, potentially increasing disparities within and between countries. Aim: To examine access to water and sanitation and its determinants in urban and rural areas of eight former Soviet countries. Methods: A series of nationally representative surveys in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Ukraine was undertaken in 2001, covering 18,428 individuals (aged 18+ years). Results: The percentage of respondents Living in rural areas varied between 27 and 59% among countries. There are wide urban-rural differences in access to amenities. Even in urban areas, only about 90% of respondents had access to cold running water in their home (60% in Kyrgyzstan). In rural areas, less than one-third had cold running water in their homes (44% in Russia, under 10% in Kyrgyzstan and Moldova). Between one-third and one-half of rural respondents in some countries (such as Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldova) obtained their water from welts and similar sources. Access to hot running water inside the homes was an exception in rural households, reflecting the tack of modern heating methods in villages. Similarly, indoor access to toilets is common in urban areas but rare in rural areas. Access to all amenities was better in Russia compared with elsewhere in the region. Indoor access to cold water was significantly more common among rural residents Living in apartments, and in settlements served by asphalt roads rather than dirt roads. People with more assets or income and living with other people were significantly more likely to have water on tap. In addition, people who had moved in more recently were more likely to have an indoor water supply. Conclusions: This was the largest single study of its kind undertaken in this region, and demonstrates that a significant number of people living in rural parts of the former Soviet Union do not have indoor access to running water and sanitation. There are significant variations among countries, with the worse situation in central Asia and the Caucasus, and the best situation in Russia. Access to water strongly correlates with socio-economic characteristics. These findings suggest a need for sustained investment in rebuilding basic infrastructure in the region, and monitoring the impact of living conditions on health.
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| 2. |
- Mäkinen, Ilkka Henrik, et al.
(author)
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Suicide Mortality and Agricultural Rationalization in Post-War Europe
- 2006
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In: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0933-7954 .- 1433-9285. ; 41:6, s. 429-434
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background The relationship between agricultural rationalization and suicide mortality has been little researched. On the basis of the hypothesis that agricultural rationalization leads to more suicide, this study investigated whether a general relationship could be found between structural change in agriculture and suicide mortality in post-war Europe. Method Due to the expected small size of the effect, the data were deliberately collected so as to maximize the variation in the independent variable. Annual national-level data on suicide mortality, the percentage of the work force in agricultural employment, and the unemployment level were collected from those countries and 10-year periods where the structural changes (reductions in employment) in agriculture between 1950 and 1995 had been most and least pronounced. In order to avoid confounders, the annual changes in the variables’ values were correlated with each other, adding a control for the level of unemployment, and allowing for lagged effects. Results The annual changes in the levels of agricultural employment and those of suicide mortality did not covary at all. Controlling for unemployment levels did not change this, nor could any lagged effects be found. Conclusions At the most general level, no causal relation between agricultural rationalization and suicide mortality was detected. This lack of a universal relation does not, however, preclude the possibility of the relationship existing given certain socio-historical circumstances.
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| 3. |
- Razvodovsky, Y, et al.
(author)
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Suicide in urban and rural regions of Belarus, 1990-2005
- 2009
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In: Public Health. - : Elsevier BV. - 0033-3506 .- 1476-5616. ; 123:1, s. 27-31
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: To examine the occurrence of suicide in urban and rural regions of Belarus in the post-Soviet Period. Study design: Unlinked cross-sectional study using data drawn from four time points. Methods: Age- and gender-specific suicide data for urban and rural regions of Belarus were obtained from the Belarus Ministry of Statistics for the years 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005. The data were recalculated into seven age categories and then directly standardized. Poisson regression models were used to assess changes ill urban-rural suicide rate ratios across the four time points. Results: Between 1990 and 2000, the suicide rate rose sharply in Belarus. It started to reduce after 2000, but in 2005 it was still much higher than its initial level. The same was true for urban and rural suicide rates and for male Suicide rates in all regions combined. However, after 1995, there was a divergence between gender-specific rates in urban and rural areas. A small reduction in urban suicide rates for both genders contrasted with a sharp increase in suicide rates among trien and women in rural areas. By 2005, although suicide rates had fallen from their 2000 level for both genders in urban and rural locations, the decrease was much smaller in rural areas. These changes resulted in a deteriorating rural-urban suicide ratio across the period 1990-2005, with suicide rates among nearly every rural male age group remaining extreme after 1995. Although it is probable that a deteriorating social and economic situation has underpinned increasing suicide rates in all regions, there may be factors that are specific to rural locations, such as increasing social isolation and poor provision of medical services, that account for the extreme suicide rates now being recorded there. Conclusion: By 2005, Belarus had one of the highest suicide rates in the world. This now requires urgent intervention by the necessary authorities to ameliorate this situation in urban and, especially, rural locations.
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| 6. |
- Stickley, Andrew, et al.
(author)
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Alcohol mortality in Russia : A historical perspective
- 2009
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In: Public Health. - : Elsevier BV. - 0033-3506 .- 1476-5616. ; 123:1, s. 20-26
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: To examine major changes in the supply of alcohol in Russia and its impact on health in late-tsarist and early-Soviet society. Study design and methods: Statistical data on acute forms of alcohol mortality were drawn from official publications and medical literature published in the period 1860-1930 that covered the 50 provinces of European Russia and some of the major cities in the Russian Empire. These data were examined for across-time changes in alcohol mortality in relation to changes in the availability of alcohol products, both in terms of increased and decreased levels of supply. Results: Rapid changes in the supply of alcoholic products in earlier periods of Russian history resulted in quick and marked changes in the levels of acute alcohol mortality. However, while restrictions on the availability of spirits have sometimes been effective in reducing alcohol mortality, there has often been a rapid recourse to alternative forms of alcohol, i.e. alcohol surrogates. Conclusion: The lesson of history suggests that any attempt to deal with the problem of hazardous drinking in Russia must deal with all sources of alcohol, both legal and illegal, as individuals have demonstrated a high degree of ingenuity in identifying alternative sources of alcohol, both in the past and the present.
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| 7. |
- Stickley, Andrew, et al.
(author)
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Alcohol Poisoning in Belarus : A Comparison of Urban-Rural Trends, 1990-2005
- 2009
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In: Alcohol and Alcoholism. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0735-0414 .- 1464-3502. ; 44:3, s. 326-331
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of alcohol poisoning in urban and rural regions of Belarus in the post-Soviet period. Methods: All-age male and female alcohol-poisoning mortality and population data were obtained for the years 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005 for urban and rural regions of Belarus. These data were subsequently recalculated into three age categories and directly standardized. Poisson regression models were used to assess relative changes in rural-urban alcohol-poisoning rates across time. Results: Although extremely high in comparative terms in 1990, alcohol-poisoning rates had nevertheless risen considerably amongst men and women in all age groups in both urban and rural regions by 2005. In rural regions, the rise was continuous while amongst the urban population a small reduction was recorded in 2000 after a comparatively larger rise in 1995. By 2005, although alcohol-poisoning rates were significantly higher amongst rural men and women, the levels of acute alcohol mortality were nevertheless extremely high in nearly every age group in both urban and rural locations. Conclusions: It is probable that both the level and pattern of alcohol consumption in conjunction with the increasing use of illegal alcohol underlie the extremely high alcohol-poisoning rates in contemporary Belarus, and the growing rural-urban divergence in alcohol-poisoning mortality observed in recent years. Immediate action is now required to improve the poor social and economic conditions underpinning extreme levels of acute alcohol mortality, as well as to increase the provision of alcohol treatment services, especially in rural areas.
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| 9. |
- Stickley, Andrew, et al.
(author)
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Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Moscow
- 2008
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In: Journal of family Violence. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0885-7482 .- 1573-2851. ; 23, s. 447-456
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study examines attitudes towards violenceagainst women among the populace in Moscow, Russiausing data drawn from the Moscow Health Survey.Information was obtained from 1,190 subjects (510 menand 680 women) about their perceptions of whetherviolence against women was a serious problem in contemporaryRussia, and under what circumstances they thoughtit was justifiable for a husband to hit his wife. Less thanhalf the respondents thought violence was a seriousproblem, while for a small number of interviewees therewere several scenarios where violence was regarded asbeing permissible against a wife. Being young, divorced orwidowed, having financial difficulties, and regularly consumingalcohol were associated with attitudes moresupportive of violence amongst men; having a loweducational level underpinned supportive attitudes amongboth men and women. Results are discussed in terms of the public reemergence of patriarchal attitudes in Russia in thepost-Soviet period.
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| 10. |
- Stickley, Andrew, et al.
(author)
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Homicide in post-Soviet Belarus : urban-rural trends
- 2009
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In: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 19:1, s. 117-120
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is probable that a combination of factors such as high levels of poverty, the effects of alcohol consumption, as well as the poor provision of emergency medical services underlie both the high levels of lethal violence and the growing rural-urban divergence in homicide rates in contemporary Belarus. Urgent action is now needed to address the deteriorating social and economic conditions underpinning violence, especially in rural regions.
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