Trends in Socioeconomic Health Inequalities in Kazakhstan

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-190
Author(s):  
Lazat Spankulova ◽  
Marat Karatayev ◽  
Michèle L. Clarke

According to the relative income hypothesis, the health status of a population is determined by its horizontal social and financial conditions, both mutually interrelated factors. As a former republic of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan is a particularly interesting case in which to explore the impact of health-related inequalities due to economic, sociodemographic, and institutional changes experienced as the country transitioned to independent status. The goal of this article is to examine the degree to which commonly-used socioeconomic determinants (education, income, living conditions, marital status, occupation) are associated with health inequalities in Kazakhstan. We found significant differences in the health status characteristics among the population. Poor health was found to be significantly associated with living conditions and income level. This article will assist policy makers in developing and improving existing social and health policies to address the apparent lack of health-related equity in Kazakhstan.

Author(s):  
Christoph Mick

This chapter discusses everyday life under foreign occupation during the Second World War. Living conditions were very different depending on class, race, location, and time. People living in Poland, Greece, Yugoslavia, and the occupied territories of the Soviet Union were not only much more exposed to terror and mass crimes; their standards of living were also much lower than in western Europe. Some experiences, however, were shared. The chapter focuses on certain common daily experiences: procuring food and other daily necessities; the relationship between peasants and urban populations; the working and living conditions in cities and towns; the role of families and the importance of networks; and the impact of terror, destruction, and insecurity on society and individuals. Living under foreign occupation partly corrupted the moral standards governing human relations, but there was also solidarity which focused on a core group of people consisting of family and close friends.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-31
Author(s):  
Jakub Majkowski

This essay will firstly address the extent of Stalin’s achievements in leading the course for domestic policy of the Soviet Union and its contribution towards maintaining the country’s supremacy in the world, for example the rapid post-war recovery of industry and agriculture, and secondly, the foreign policy including ambiguous relations with Communist governments of countries forming the Eastern Bloc, upkeeping frail alliances and growing antagonism towards western powers, especially the United States of America.   The actions and influence of Stalin’s closest associates in the Communist Party and the effect of Soviet propaganda on the society are also reviewed. This investigation will cover the period from 1945 to 1953. Additionally, other factors such as the impact of post-war worldwide economic situation and attitude of the society of Soviet Union will be discussed.    


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austyn Snowden ◽  
Jenny Young ◽  
Jan Savinc

Abstract Background Cancer impacts on patients and their families across a range of different domains. For that reason, optimal cancer care has moved away from a disease-centric focus to a more holistic approach in order to proactively support people with their individual needs and concerns. While international policy clearly advocates this agenda, implementation into routine care is limited. Therefore, relevant interventions that measurably improve patient outcomes are essential to understand if this ideal is to become routine multidisciplinary practice. The aim of this study was to analyse the impact of a proactive, holistic, community-based intervention on health-related quality of life in a cohort of people diagnosed with cancer. Secondary aim was to explore the relationship between changes in health status and: cancer type, cancer stage, number of concerns expressed and change in severity of concerns pre and post intervention. Method Prospective observational cohort study. A convenience sample of 437 individuals were referred to the service ‘Improving the Cancer Journey (ICJ) in the UK. Each completed the Euroqol EQ-5D-3L and visual analogue scale (VAS) and a Holistic Needs Assessment (HNA) during initial visit to the service and again at follow-up review, approximately 4 months later. Change between scores was tested with paired t-tests and relationships between variables with multiple regression models. Results Participants were White British with median age between 50-64 years. Cancer type and stage were varied. There was a statistically significant improvement in EQ-5D scores over time (t(330)=7.48, p<.001). The strongest predictor of change was a decrease in severity of concerns. Cancer stage ‘palliative care’ contributed to a reduction in health status. Conclusion This study is the first to show that a holistic community intervention dedicated to supporting the individual concerns of participants has a statistically and meaningful impact on participants’ health-related quality of life. The mean change in EQ-5D scores was more than the ‘minimally important clinical difference’ described in the literature. This is important because while quality of life has multiple determinants this study has reported that it is possible to capture a meaningful improvement as a function of reducing someone’s personally identified concerns.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Lovakov ◽  
Elena Agadullina

For several decades the Soviet academic psychology community was isolated from the West, yet after the collapse of the Soviet Union each of the 15 countries went their own way in economic, social, and scientific development. The paper analyses publications from post-Soviet countries in psychological journals in 1992–2017, i.e. 26 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Over the period in question, 15 post-Soviet countries had published 4986 papers in psychology, accounting for less than one percent of the world output in psychological journals. However, the growth of post-Soviet countries’ output in psychological journals, especially that of Russia and Estonia, is observed during this period. Over time, post-Soviet authors began to write more papers in international teams, constantly increasing the proportion of papers in which they are leaders and main contributors. Their papers are still underrepresented in the best journals as well as among the most cited papers in the field and are also cited lower than the world average. However, the impact of psychological papers from post-Soviet countries increases with time. There is a huge diversity between 15 post-Soviet countries in terms of contribution, autonomy, and impact. Regarding the number of papers in psychological journals, the leading nations are Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Georgia. Estonia is the leader in autonomy in publishing papers in psychological journals among post-Soviet countries. Papers from Estonia and Georgia are cited higher than the world average, whereas papers from Russia and Ukraine are cited below the world average. Estonia and Georgia also boast a high number of Highly cited papers.


2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-93
Author(s):  
Mariya Polner

The dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted not only interindependence for Moldova. It also served as a push factor for the secessionist conflict on its territory which due to its unresolved status is referred to as frozen. All attempts of the political settlement since 1990s have ended in deadlock. Interestingly, the EU policies towards Transnistria changed significantly in 2003-2004. From the ‘security consumer’ the EU has been slowly turning into the ‘security provider’. The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the EU in ensuring security and stability through its involvement in the Transnistrian conflict. For this purpose the study will focus on EU-Moldova relations and the instrument it dedicates to ensuring stability, the EU Border Assistance Mission.


Author(s):  
Paul J. Heer

This book chronicles and assesses the little-known involvement of US diplomat George F. Kennan—renowned as an expert on the Soviet Union—in US policy toward East Asia, primarily in the early Cold War years. Kennan, with vital assistance from his deputy John Paton Davies, played pivotal roles in effecting the US withdrawal from the Chinese civil war and the redirection of American occupation policy in Japan, and in developing the “defensive perimeter” concept in the western Pacific. His influence, however, faded soon thereafter: he was less successful in warning against US security commitments in Korea and Indochina, and the impact of the Korean War ultimately eclipsed his strategic vision for US policy in East Asia. This was due in large part to Kennan’s inability to reconcile his judgment that the mainland of East Asia was strategically expendable to the United States with his belief that US prestige should not be compromised there. The book examines the subsequent evolution of Kennan’s thinking about East Asian issues—including his role as a prominent critic of US involvement in the Vietnam War—and the legacies of his engagement with the region.


2009 ◽  
pp. 191-210
Author(s):  
Francesco Vietti

- This study analyses the impact of migration on the family roles in Moldova and the changing dynamics within transnational families. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the economic collapse of the 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Moldovans have left their country over the past decade to seek opportunities abroad. The mass migration has become the dominant socio-economic phenomenon of the country and has prompted the redefinition of family structure and ideology.Keywords Etnography, Family, Transnationalism, Eastern Europe, RemittancesThe migration of a large number of women leads to a reorganization of the division of labour and the gender roles within the transnational family. These changes can influence communities as well as families. Taking a closer look at the transnational experience of a family in the rural context of Pîrlita, a village near the Romanian border, the study explores the migrants' consumption desires and practices as reflective not only of commodified exchange but also of affection and sentiment.Keywords Etnography, Family, Transnationalism, Eastern Europe, Remittances


2020 ◽  
pp. 135-158
Author(s):  
Keith Howard

Chapter 5 is the second of three chapters on “revolutionary operas.” It explores how revolutionary operas reflect and are distinct from parallel genres in the Soviet Union, as well as how they may have been influenced by Chinese model works. It shows how ideology, including Soviet socialist realism and North Korean nationalism, and also collective creation and “seed theory,” is embedded in operas. It discusses the involvement of the North Korean leadership, and in particular Kim Jong Il, in opera creation, and explores the impact of comments made by the leadership after the premieres of the first three operas. The chapter asks what was known about opera in Korea before 1945, offering a discussion of the traditional genre of p’ansori, its twentieth-century ch’anggŭk staged equivalent, and how these two genres—and specific musicians associated with them who moved from Seoul to Pyongyang and continued their careers there into the 1960s—fared. These older forms were effectively stopped dead when Kim Il Sung remarked that they were reminiscent of a time when people traveled by donkey and wore horsehair hats, and, after the five revolutionary operas, they were replaced by “people’s operas” in the new, revolutionary opera mold.


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