Famine of 1946–1947: Causes, Consequences, Problems for Children’s Health

The results of historical and medical analysis are presented: they show the situation related to the famine of 1946–1947 that covered several regions of the USSR and was caused by natural (drought), objective (Second World War consequences), and political (foreign and domestic economic policy of our government) factors. The aim of the study is to analyze the famine causes and consequences and the associated increase in child morbidity and mortality. The archival materials of USSR Ministry of Health fund, the demography department of USSR Central Statistical Office (CSU), USSR State Planning Committee reports, and works of historians, economists, demographers, and children health professional were declassified and studied to cover the issue. The information provided by researchers about human losses during the famine is very contradictory. The resumptive opinion of the demographer V.B. Zhiromskaya indicates that human losses due to famine were about 1 million people in USSR in 1947, including about 0.5 million people in RSFSR. The children population reached more than one third of the total population mortality. Population losses in 1947 exceeded losses in 1946 in RSFSR by 402,480 people according to the authors calculations. Among them almost a half (49.6%) were children aged 0–15 years, and 74.6% of them were infants. The leading causes of children mortality were dystrophy, gastrointestinal diseases, pneumonia, childhood infections, typhus fever, and tuberculosis. The Soviet government has taken several measures to provide medical care for patients with dystrophy, to expand the infant-feeding center network for providing children with food, and to create children's health areas with better nutrition. The implementation of all these measures saved thousands of children's lives from famine and related diseases. However, these measures cannot be considered totally sufficient due to extremely high rate of child mortality in hunger-affected areas.