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Albania
HEALTH AND WELFARE
Medical Care and
Nutrition
The government credited itself with a revolutionary transformation
of Albanian health standards. According to official statistics,
the incidence of malaria and other debilitating diseases that
affected large segments of the population before 1950 had been
greatly reduced or eliminated, and average life expectancy had
increased about twenty years by 1988 (see Population, ). These
successes were attributable primarily to large-scale inoculation
programs, the extermination or reduction in number of disease-spreading
pests, and a general expansion of health services. In 1987 Albania
had about one physician or dentist per 577 inhabitants (compared
to one per 8,154 inhabitants in 1950), and one hospital bed per
168 inhabitants (compared to one per 229 inhabitants in 1950).
All medical services were free. However, further improvements
in health care were obstructed by malnutrition, unsanitary conditions,
and a rapidly deteriorating economy.
Although considerably decreased, the infant mortality rate--
fifty deaths per 1,000 live births, according to data published
by the United States government--was still much higher than that
of other Balkan states in 1991. Many of these deaths were caused
by low birth weight. Because of food shortages and inadequate
prenatal care, the proportion of premature births increased from
7 to 11 percent between 1987 and early 1992. Hospitals lacked
essential medicines and equipment; the University of Tiranë Hospital,
considered the best in the country, had only one incubator.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that 57
out of every 1,000 Albanian mothers died during pregnancy or childbirth--roughly
ten times the average rate in Western Europe. Contraceptives could
not be obtained. Abortions, which were legalized in the summer
of 1991, were performed with poorly sterilized instruments, as
were Caesarean sections. Patients at Tiranë's maternity clinic
sometimes had to share beds or bring their own food.
The food supply--a perennial problem because of poor soil, occasional
drought, primitive methods of cultivation, and a lack of readily
accessible resources--did not keep pace with population growth
under communist rule. The typical diet lacked protein and other
vital elements. Families, regardless of size, received meager
rations of meat, usually three to four kilograms per month. Eggs,
cheese, sugar, and coffee also were rationed. Nonrationed goods,
such as milk, green vegetables, and fruit, were often difficult
to come by, and émigrés reported having to stand in line many
hours to purchase them. Farmers relied on small private plots
of land to supplement their provisions.
The economic disintegration of the late 1980s and early 1990s,
hastened by a severe drought in the summer of 1990, a general
strike the following year, and widespread food riots, compelled
the country to become totally dependent on foreign food aid. Jolted
by a flood of Albanian refugees, Italy delivered 83,000 tons of
food to its eastern neighbor between September 1991 and January
1992. Additional emergency aid was received from Germany, Switzerland,
the United States, and other countries, as well as from international
relief agencies.
Data as of April 1992
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