[Prophylaxis iodine deficit: information support].

An insufficient intake of micronutrients has massive and permanent nature and influence negatively to health, growth and vitality of the entire nation. One-third part of Russian schoolchildren suffer from deficiency of iron and iodine. Every year in Russia 215,000 children are born with brain damages associated with iodine deficiency. Raising the public awareness regarding the risks and prevention of micronutrient deficiency is the key issue of public health and nutrition. The study which included 4500 respondents in the Urals Federal District showed 2-4-fold increase awareness of the respondents in different positions after the communication campaign for prevention of micronutrient deficiency.

[Development of a system for the early diagnosis and prevention of children's health changes caused by exposure to heavy metals].

At the moment, the making a diagnosis of an environment-induced disease in Russia is not routine and this is not relied on a rather evidence basis. Nevertheless, the choice of exposure methods from educational and preventive to therapeutic depends on the intensity and pattern of exposure to ecotoxicants and on the magnitude of appropriate specific changes. Epidemiological surveys of 5-7-year-old children from 3 towns of Russia have revealed that 8.3-24.5% of the children have moderate excesses of the allowable levels of lead in blood; 4.6-12.8% have excess hair magnesium levels, and 5.9-33.8% have excess hair copper levels. The real damage to the children's neuropsychic health manifests as a significant reduction in the memory and academic achievement indices, the parameters of fine and gross motor coordination, speech expressiveness, and in the rate of minor successive movements. The prevalence of environment-dependent neuropsychic malformations is 3-7%, as calculated with reference to all the children examined. The children aged 5-7 years are shown not to be in need of therapeutic measures in all the towns compared. At the same time, 61.1-83.2% of the children need neuropsychic health-promoting measures. For this, it is expedient to use informational and educational technologies. About 4.3-17.8 and 11.5 - 21.1% need primary and secondary preventive measures against environment-dependent neuropsychic changes. The authors present approaches to developing measures to promote neuropsychic health and to prevent neuropsychic malformations. There is evidence that primary prevention is more effective for the pediatric population. There is no question that multivariate analysis of the problems associated with childhood neuropsychic development, including environmental, behavioral, sociomedical components, is of importance. These approaches may be realized at the municipal level and taken as the basis for preparing national guidelines for the promotion of health and for the prevention of environment-dependent conditions in children.

[Prevention of iodine-deficient diseases].

The Interregional center of public health and development assisted by Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy undertook, 1999-2000, a study of the standard of knowledge, attitude and conduct of consumers in respect to the use of iodinated salt (IS) in the prevention of iodine-deficient diseases (IDD). It was demonstrated that, on the average per one district, 19% of city respondents and 13% of rural respondents used IS only. About 31% of city respondents used IS when it was available at the next-door shop, i.e. from time to time. This figure reached 48% in Irkutsk and Orenburg Regions. The share of those who used IS sometimes in rural regions made an average of 20.7%. 67.2% of those who believe that IDD can be prevented think that ID can also be prevented. Less than 5% of them say ID cannot be regarded as a reliable tool in the prevention of IDD.

[Development of Public Health Department with course of economy]. / Stanovlenie i razvitie kafedry obshchestvennogo zdorov'ia i zdravookhraneniia s kursom ékonomiki.

Transition of Russia to marketing economy necessitated reformation of public health system, which, in turn, necessitated economic education of medical staff. I. M. Setchenov Moscow Medical Academy accumulated sufficient experience in the solution of this problem many-year research validated the need in economic education of medical staff under conditions of public health reforms. This paper sums up the results of organization and experimental studies of introduction of public health economy in the curriculum.

[Problems in prophylaxis under the conditions of public health reform]. / Problemy profilaktiki v uskoviyakh reform zdravookhraneniya.

The indicators of medicosocial significance of prophylaxis in present-day Russia have been determined on the basis of published data and authors' findings. The weak and strong aspects of the problem are assessed, as are the potentialities of solving it and factors threatening its realization. Problems in the prophylactic activities of general practitioners (family physicians) and problems in the development of prophylaxis within the framework of medical insurance are discussed.