Issues of demography and health in the perception of the participants of the IV World Russian National Council (1997)

Rudakov Alexander Borisovich

This article discusses the reaction of participants in the IV World Russian People’s Cathedral to the demographic crisis and health problems in Russia in the 1990s. XX century The recession in the Russian Federation, which began at the turn of the 80s and 90s, led to negative changes in the field of demography and the organization of health care in the mid-1990s. continued to negatively affect the deterioration of the health status of citizens and the increase in fertility. The article provides the opinion of Metropolitan Kirill (since 2009 the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia) about the need to treat the health of the nation as the highest state priority. The position of the IV World Russian People’s Council that health care in Russia cannot be provided on a “residual basis” is noted. It was emphasized at the council that the gene pool of the peoples of the Russian Federation cannot be “at the cost of any social experiments”. The delegates of the forum called for the implementation of government measures aimed at ensuring the rights of citizens, enshrined in the recently adopted Constitution of the Russian Federation, in the field of healthcare and public health. They revealed the need for a federal health concept. The congress noted the importance of adopting a special state program for protecting health and prescribing its financing as a separate line from the country's budget. The findings reveal the relationship of ideas voiced at the World Russian People’s Council in 1997 with later adopted provisions of the program documents of the Russian Orthodox Church on the health of individuals and people, and especially the “Fundamentals of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Social Concept”.

Keywords:Russian Orthodox church, World Russian Рeople's Council, Demography, Health of nation