According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), youth sickness rate has surged by 30.9 per cent for the past 10 years. In UNFPA view, taking into account Belarus’ population reduction by 49.9 thousand people in 2005, youth reproductive health rate has an impact on the national demographic situation, in particular.

Sickness rate growth has been marked by all types of diseases. For the past 10 years the following pathologies have been progressing at the highest tempo:

• blood circulation diseases have grown by 114 per cent;
• bone & muscular system diseases – by 83.6 per cent;
• malignant tumour neoplasms – by 74 per cent;
• thyroid diseases – by 41.4 per cent;
• excretory system diseases – by 39.8 per cent;
• respiratory system disorders – by 30.3 per cent, including bronchial asthma – by 92.5 per cent;
• sugar diabetes – by 23.7 per cent;
• mental disorders – by 40 per cent.

It is to note that girls’ sickness rate is higher than the boys’ one.

1st place – respiratory system diseases (42.5 per cent);

2nd place – eye and supplementary device diseases (10.0 per cent);

3rd place – digestion system diseases (8.3 per cent);

4th place – mental and behavioral disorders (6.0 per cent);

5th place – injuries and poisoning (5.6 per cent).

UNFPA research revealed an increase in alcohol, narcotics and toxic substances consumption among youth. The number of teenagers on the books at narcological clinics has surged four-fold for the past 5 years.

“Health improvement of teenagers like all other population strata should be a priority task while considering a national strategy development,” UNFPA Coordinator in Belarus Tatiana Haplichnik says. “Today we deem it important to find out the current situation causes and offer concrete ways to solve and prevent health problems among teenagers, which is a vital task. One of the ways is to create youth health centers throughout Belarus. This project is coordinated and supervised by UNFPA. First results of the centers work will be presented in the near future.”

Short reference: UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every maternity is safe, every young person’s health is protected, every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. UNFPA was created in 1969. It started its activities in Belarus in 1994.

For additional information, please, contact Natalia Gromadskikh at 294-31-92 or visit our web-site www.unfpa.by.