Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, birth rates and male life expectancy have suffered sharp declines and Russia's population is expected to decrease further over the next decade as a result of deaths caused by poor health.

Alcoholism is a major problem and half of all deaths in working-age men in Russia are caused by excessive drinking.

The rate of infectious diseases, such as TB, has also gone up and there is a growing HIV/Aids epidemic in Europe, mainly from a rise in injected drug use that followed the social and economic upheavals of the 1990s.

Drug abuse is growing at an alarming rate planting long-term consequences for the health of the Russians.

It is clear that the Russian healthcare industry needs a complete overhaul. Healthcare costs are rising, while the quality of healthcare for the majority of Russians who are not very rich remains sub-standard. Mortality rates from serious chronic diseases grow while the Russian pharmaceuticals industry is incapable of supplying Russian patients and hospitals with the necessary drugs.

Each year, 1.3 million Russians die from cardiovascular disease, more than 300,000 people die of cancer. Another 150,000 become handicapped. Cancer survival rates in Russia are the worst in Europe. The five-year survival rate from all types of cancer in Russia is at a dismal 43 percent.

The Russian pharmaceuticals industry has too many old plants that are producing the cheapest and least effective medicines. Only nine percent of those plants conform to international GMP standards. As a result, more than 90 percent of drugs supplied under the $1.3 to 1.5 billion a year federal drug reimbursement program are manufactured by major international companies.

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