Kyrgyzstan
Health and Welfare
In 1993 the World Bank reported that the population of Kyrgyzstan
enjoyed better health care than most other countries with similar
per capita income, which averaged US$3,410 per year for Kyrgyzstan's
category in 1992. The current health conditions and health prospects
of Kyrgyzstan's population are difficult to calculate, however,
because of the sudden change that independence visited upon the
medical community. Until 1991 Kyrgyzstan's medical system was
financed through the Soviet Union's Ministry of Health, which
guaranteed a health establishment equal to that of other Soviet
republics. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the slow
collapse of fiscal ties between Kyrgyzstan and Moscow, the medical
community has inherited an aging but generally adequate physical
plant. However, the system often lacks the vaccines, medicines,
and other resources needed to maintain the health of the population.
Data as of March 1996
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