To elucidate the possible effects of Russian alcohol control policy on alcohol consumption and alcohol-related mortality for the period 2000-2010.
Narrative review including statistical analysis. Trends before and after 2006 are compared, 2006 being the date of implementation of the Russian government's long-term strategy to reduce alcohol-related harms. Mortality data were taken from the World Health Organization (WHO) database 'Health for All'. Data on recorded alcohol consumption were taken from the WHO, based on the Russian Statistical Service (Rosstat). For unrecorded consumption, the calculations of Alexandr Nemtsov were used. Russian public opinion surveys on drinking habits were utilized. Treatment data on alcohol dependence were obtained from the Moscow National Research Centre on Addictions. Information on alcohol policy was obtained from official reports.
Marked fluctuations in all-cause and alcohol-associated mortality in the working-age population were observed during the reviewed period. A decrease in total consumption and mortality was noted since the end of 2005, when the Russian government initially adopted the regulation of alcohol production and sale. The consumption changes were driven by decreases in recorded and unrecorded spirit consumption, only partly compensated for by increases in beer and wine consumption.
Alcohol is a strong contributor to premature deaths in Russia, with both the volume and the pattern of consumption being detrimental to health. The regulations introduced since 2006 seem to have positive effects on both drinking behavior and health outcomes. However, there is an urgent need for further alcohol-control strategies to reduce alcohol-related harm.
To test if changes in national alcohol policy have had an impact on alcohol use among 12- to 18-year-old adolescents in Finland over a 30-year period.
Frequencies of drinking any amounts of alcohol and drinking alcohol until really drunk from bi-annual repeated cross-sectional surveys from 1981 to 2011 were examined against a national alcohol policy review using nationally representative samples of 12-, 14-, 16- and 18-year-old adolescents (n = 99,724) in Finland.
Twelve-year-olds' alcohol drinking remained rare throughout the period. Drinking among 18-year-olds generally increased throughout the period. Significant increases until the late 1990s and decreases thereafter were observed in 14- and 16-year-olds' drinking patterns. A sharp increase was predicted between 2003 and 2005 as a result of EU-related processes, but instead decrease was observed among 14-16-year-olds. The tests of hypothesized decrease from 2005 to 2011 due to tightening alcohol policy including several tax raises produced mixed results.
Alcohol policy changes between 1981 and 2011 seem not to have had noticeable influence on alcohol drinking or drunkenness among the under-aged in Finland. Conspicuous increases seen in population total consumption in association with EU-related developments have not materialized among adolescents.
Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), 33 Russell Street, Toronto, ON M5S 2S1, Canada; Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, TU Dresden, Chemnitzer Str. 46, 01187 Dresden, Germany. Electronic address: neufeld.maria@googlemail.com.
Consumption of unrecorded alcohol (alcohol that is not taxed and reflected in official statistics, but consumed as a beverage) has been identified as one of the main contributors to alcohol-attributable premature mortality in Russia. The problem was highlighted by a recent a mass poisoning with surrogate alcohol occurred in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.
Based on key publications and legislative documents, a narrative review was undertaken about alcohol-related harm reduction policies in Russia for the period between 2005 and 2017, as well as the impact of these policies on the recorded and unrecorded alcohol consumption and alcohol market.
Various policy measures mainly targeting availability and price of recorded and unrecorded alcohol have been introduced since 2005, which generally coincided with the decreases in alcohol-related mortality observed at that time. However, regulations on medicinal and cosmetic products have remained inconsistent providing the foundations for the continued existence of a legal industry of surrogates with broad availability and misuse.
The Russian experiences of introducing alcohol policies demonstrate that there are effective measures to reduce unrecorded alcohol consumption and attributable harm. The government's multi-level strategy of alcohol consumption and harm reduction should be pursued stringently and all the possible loop-holes for producers, sellers and distributors of illegal and/or unrecorded alcohol should be eliminated or at least critically reduced.
Federal Research Institute for Health Organization and Informatics of Ministry of Health of the Russia, Moscow, Russia; Center for Scientific and Technical Expertise, Institute of Applied Economic Research, The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia.
During 2012-2018 in the Russian Federation, pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 599 of 05.07.2012, a set of state support measures was implemented aimed at increasing the specific gravity of Russian publications indexed in international databases. The national project 'Science' (NPS) designed to realize the goals set by Presidential Decree No.204 of 05.07.2018 'On the National Goals and Strategic Tasks for Development of the Russian Federation until 2024' continues and develops the theme of increasing the publication activity of the Russian Federation in the internationalized space. One of the six NPS targets is 'The place of the Russian Federation in terms of specific gravity in the total number of articles in areas defined by the priorities of scientific and technological development in publications indexed in international databases'. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the basic value of this indicator for biomedical disciplines related to the priority direction (paragraph 20c) of the Strategy for Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation. We compared volumes of publication flows of the Russian Federation in 20 biomedical disciplines with a similar indicator of countries ranked fifth in the number of publications on the subject area under consideration, indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS CC). A 5-10 fold lag of the Russian Federation was recorded for the most part of the priority areas in the field of biomedicine identified by the NTS passport. The impact of public policy measures aimed at increasing the national biomedical publication stream for the period of 2012-2018 was estimated as insufficient to meet the considered NTS target.
This paper examines whether national differences in political culture add an explanatory dimension to the formulation of policy in the area of biotechnology, especially with respect to genetically modified food. The analysis links the formulation of protective regulatory policies governing genetically modified food to both country and region-specific differences in uncertainty tolerance levels and risk perceptions in the United States, Canada, and European Union. Based on polling data and document analysis, the findings illustrate that these differences matter. Following a mostly opportunistic risk perception within an environment of high tolerance for uncertainty, policymakers in the United States and Canada modified existing regulatory frameworks that govern genetically modified food in their respective countries. In contrast, the mostly cautious perception of new food technologies and low tolerance for uncertainty among European Union member states has contributed to the creation of elaborate and stringent regulatory policies governing genetically modified food.
Zero tolerance against patriarchal norms? A cross-sectional study of Swedish physicians' attitudes towards young females requesting virginity certificates or hymen restoration.
Many countries, Sweden among them, lack professional guidelines and established procedures for responding to young females requesting virginity certificates or hymen restoration due to honour-related threats. The purpose of the present survey study was to further examine the attitudes of the Swedish healthcare professionals concerned towards young females requesting virginity certificates or hymen restorations. The study indicates that a small majority of Swedish general practitioners and gynaecologists would accommodate these patients, at least given certain circumstances. But a large minority of physicians would under no circumstances help the young females, regardless of speciality, years of practice within medicine, gender, or experience of the phenomenon. Their responses are similar to other areas where it has been claimed that society should adopt a zero tolerance policy against certain phenomena, for instance drug policy, where it has also been argued that society should never act in ways that express support for the practice in question. However, this argument is questionable. A more pragmatic approach would also allow for follow-ups and evaluation of virginity certificates and hymen restorations, as is demonstrated by the Dutch policy. Hence, there are some obvious advantages to this pragmatic approach compared to the restrictive one espoused by a large minority of Swedish physicians and Swedish policy-makers in this area.
