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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 25, 2003
Healthy Russia 2020 Foundation, Website Offers New Approach
For Tackling Russia's Entrenched Health Problems
 MOSCOW - Healthy Russia 2020, a Moscow-based health promotion project, this week announced the creation of the Healthy Russia Foundation and the launch of a new website (www.healthyrussia.ru) to improve the health of all Russians.
Supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Healthy Russia 2020 is led by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs (CCP) in partnership with the Futures Group International, Constella Group, and several collaborators.
The website features new and previously unpublished statistical data on the health issues affecting Russians. The Healthy Russia Foundation is a non-commercial organization that seeks to help those Russians who want to live a healthier lifestyle. The Foundation combines the efforts of several organizations eager to contribute to improving the nation's health.
The Foundation plans to develop and implement large-scale informational and educational behavior-change campaigns; create and promote educational programs for making health a priority for youth; foster a system to implement evidence-based medicine in prevention and treatment; work with state leaders whose decisions influence the quality of health care; and offer the general public and specialists easy-to-access information on health and health care.
The Foundation is led by Director E.V. Dmitrieva. Members of the Board of Directors include Oleg Sysuyev, Vladimir Pozner, Andrei Bader, Liudmila Posiseyeva, Dmitry Korobkov, Vladimir Dobrenkov, Alexander Tsaregorodtsev, and international expert Michele A. Berdy.
Russia's health problems—including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, alcoholism, and illness due to cigarette smoking—have been blamed on the health care system. The Healthy Russia Foundation will offer a systemic approach to solve the nation's health crisis by integrating supportive policies, a health care system adequate to the needs of the society, advanced medical technologies, and healthier behaviors.
The Foundation's initial areas of focus will be reproductive health, maternal health and early childhood, adolescent health (especially healthy lifestyles), HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. Guided by the principles of personal responsibility, community participation, and social partnership, the Foundation will collaborate with both individuals and a variety of organizations: governmental, non-governmental, commercial, and professional.
With representatives in more than 30 countries, Johns Hopkins' CCP is a pioneer in the field of strategic, research-based communication programs for behavior change and health promotion that have helped transform the theory and practice of public health communication.
For further information contact: Kim Martin at Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA. Tel: 410 659-6140; Fax: 410 659-6266 e-mail: press@jhuccp.org.
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