Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 17, 1994 TAG: 9403170168
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
But the newborns she's delivering these days are the weakest and sickest ever. So are their mothers.
``The level of general health is noticeably worse,'' says Monasheva, who patrols the chilly ward in a white coat and cap. Bored young women in bathrobes lean against the walls, waiting. Cats wander the hallways in search of mice.
``The women come in with various diseases and with bad diets,'' Monasheva says. ``We have more babies born anemic and underweight, and more birth defects.''
Statistics nationwide back her up, showing a rising number of infant illnesses and birth defects, such as cleft palates and cerebral palsy. Infant mortality rose 10 percent in the first two-thirds of 1993 compared with all of 1992. The birth rate fell 14 percent for the year.
``Russia stands on the edge of an abyss,'' Deputy Minister of Public Health Nikolai Vaganov said recently. ``For the first time in its centuries-old history, there is a danger of the nation's physical degeneration, of irreparable damage to its genetic fund.''
Health officials blame inadequate health care, widespread environmental contamination, rising alcoholism among women and the poor diets and general stress that accompany declining living standards.
``If it goes on like this, we'll lose our children,'' said Yevgeny Lilyin, a geneticist who heads Russia's Center for Rehabilitation of Congenital Pathology.
Other health indicators reinforce the grim picture. Life expectancy for Russian men plummeted last year from 62 to 59 years, 13 years less than for American men. Russian women's life expectancy also fell, from 73.8 years to 73.2.
The perception that Russia is being physically weakened and depopulated has been seized on by nationalists, who blame an onslaught of Western decadence, defined as anything from stock markets to rock music.
by CNB