The health of Russian women and infants still lags behind most European countries. The Russian national maternal mortality ratio is close to 50 deaths per 100,000 live births: 7 times higher than the US ratio. Approximately 20 infants die per 100,000 live births, more than twice the US ratio and more than 4 times as high as the ratio in Scandinavian countries. The average duration of breastfeeding is estimated to be less than two months. Progress is slowly being made in changing these grim statistics, though. Modern contraceptive use has increased over the last decade. Still, almost 50% of women rely on traditional methods to control family size, and more than half the pregnancies were reported in the 1996 Reproductive Health Survey as unwanted, unplanned, or mistimed.

Healthy Russia 2020
The Healthy Russia 2020 Project (HR2020) was awarded in 2020 to the Center for Communication Programs (CCP) to carry out a broad-based program of health education, communication and mobilization in the areas of healthy lifestyles, HIV/AIDS, and family planning/reproductive health.

Women and Infant Health (WIN)
WIN aims to improve the effectiveness of maternal and infant health services. JHU/CCP promotes breastfeeding, family planning, and perinatal care and services as part of WIN. The behavior change communication component includes a multimedia campaign with two phases, the first to promote exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and the second to promote contraceptive use.