Improving Women's Health Services in the Russian Federation · Results of a Pilot Project

The health of Russian women has suffered during the economic crisis of recent years. Morbidity and mortality from chronic and infectious diseases has increased. Women's reproductive health has been compromised by an increase in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and by lack of access to up-to-date, high quality maternity and family planning services. To address these problems, an interministerial committee of the Russian Federation appointed, in 1993, a working group on maternal and child health whose charge it was to review standards of maternity care and family planning. The review led to a number of recommendations for changes in clinical practice and the organization of service delivery which then formed the basis for two women's health activities involving the World Bank: a field test in two women's consultations and one maternity home in Lubertsy (Moscow oblast) of revised clinical protocols in antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum, and family planning; and elements of a proposed project to be carried out in the regions of Kaluga and Tver. This report summarizes the current situation with regard to health status of women and service organization in the Russian Federation and presents the results of the Lubertsy Field Test.