CIS children three times more likely to die before age of five

	Photo: PRESSPHOTO BTA

People in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) tend to die 10 years younger than western Europeans, and their children are three times as likely to die before age five, according to the Caucasus Environmental NGO Network. Although contamination from the Chernobyl accident was particularly disastrous to Belorussian children like these seen above, the health effects do not stop there. People in the CIS suffer more from poverty; contaminated water, soil and air; traffic pollution; and serious health and safety risks at the workplace. Meanwhile, their societies are less regulated than they were in the 20th century and more subject to economic pressures. A WHO-organised meeting in Malta in March suggested that sectoral reforms are needed to strengthen the steering role of health authorities in the region. Efficient surveillance systems that monitor infectious diseases, both in terms of long-term trends, as well as alerts and response to outbreaks, will need to replace the outdated SanEpid system, a relic of the Soviet Union.

According to a study sponsored by UNICEF’s Belgrade bureau, the Canadian Embassy in Belgrade, and the Amiti NGO, one-third of Serbia’s 2 million children under the age of 18 live in poverty and have no chance to experience a happy and normal childhood. The study was carried out in seven districts between May and November 2003. In neighbouring Montenegro, up to 20,000 of the republic’s 600,000 citizens can be regarded as alcoholics, said Jelena Radulovic, a social scientist at Podgorica’s Institute for Health, in an interview with the Tanjug news outlet. Radulovic warned that onefourth of the country’s high school students say they drink alcohol every day and that many school-age children drink alcohol on a regular basis.