The Fall of Health Care

It is quite evident that the transition into a market economy has been difficult for Russia in maintaining the health of its people. As a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and rapid decline of their GDP, leaving them with fewer funds available for health care, there was nowhere to go but down for the Russian people with regards to their health.

“With the fall of Soviet power, health standards continued to deteriorate and citizens of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) were treated to the complete collapse of the health system that had already been in bad shape.” http://chnm.gmu.edu/1989/exhibits/soviet-health-posters/essay

Also, keeping the communist ideology of providing universal medical care did not help with being able to deliver quality care in their time of political and financial reconstruction. With less money circulating in the economy, health care advancements did not occur, which led to the high increase of mortality rates and other indicators of the decline of Russian health.

The down turn of Russia’s health care system worked in conjunction with the depletion of lifestyle habits leading to complex circumstances where bad habits were treated with minimal resources. I think that much of their poor health can be attributed to the despair the populations were experiencing due to the fall of the Soviet. As a result of the chaotic status of the time, there was an increase in mental health problems, increased substance abuse, more violence/crime, and an increase of infectious diseases, etc.