[FORMATION OF THE NOTION OF «QUALITY OF LIFE¼, CONCEPTUALISATION AND METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS (LITERATURE REVIEW)].

Quality of life (QoL) is an important health outcome and represents the primary aim of all medical interventions. The term QoL has been is frequently used in medical and philosophical literature in recent decades and has become an important concept and goal of public health research. Traditionally, biomedical results rather than QoL were the basic endpoints in clinical and public health research. However, recent research is increasingly focusing on the study of QoL in patients and the making use of QoL assessment has increased considerably. The concept of QoL has led to extensive research and has been used by the professional medical community in the treatment of a broad array of diseases. Literature search methods included database searches Scopus, Web of Science, MedLine, the Cochrane Library. Historical trends in the concept of QoL are discussed in this article and issues related to the conceptual and methodological aspects of constructing QoL in the context of health care.

Enhancing global capacity in the surveillance, prevention, and control of chronic diseases: seven themes to consider and build upon.

BACKGROUND: Chronic diseases are now a major health problem in developing countries as well as in the developed world. Although chronic diseases cannot be communicated from person to person, their risk factors (for example, smoking, inactivity, dietary habits) are readily transferred around the world. With increasing human progress and technological advance, the pandemic of chronic diseases will become an even bigger threat to global health. METHODS: Based on our experiences and publications as well as review of the literature, we contribute ideas and working examples that might help enhance global capacity in the surveillance of chronic diseases and their prevention and control. Innovative ideas and solutions were actively sought. RESULTS: Ideas and working examples to help enhance global capacity were grouped under seven themes, concisely summarised by the acronym "SCIENCE": Strategy, Collaboration, Information, Education, Novelty, Communication and Evaluation. CONCLUSION: Building a basis for action using the seven themes articulated, especially by incorporating innovative ideas, we presented here, can help enhance global capacity in chronic disease surveillance, prevention and control. Informed initiatives can help achieve the new World Health Organization global goal of reducing chronic disease death rates by 2% annually, generate new ideas for effective interventions and ultimately bring global chronic diseases under greater control.

Women's reproductive health needs in Russia: what can we learn from an intervention to improve post-abortion care?

It has been well documented that abortion is a common means of controlling fertility in Russia. Women undergo repeat abortions throughout their reproductive lives, but recent studies of abortion trends in the Russian Federation suggest that abortion rates are on the decline, use of modern contraceptives is increasing, and women dislike abortion as a method of fertility control. Using data collected during 1999-2003 in women's health facilities in three Russian cities, this paper reports the results of an evaluation of interventions to improve post-abortion care, which show an impressive increase in post-abortion contraceptive counselling but no reduction in the rate at which women present at clinics for repeat abortions. The findings indicate a discrepancy between women's stated preferences for modern medical contraceptive methods and their abortion-seeking behaviour. Further exploration of these data suggests that certain women resort to abortion with greater frequency than others, and points to the need for a more focused investigation of these women. These results indicate the complexities associated with changing what has been a relatively common and long-standing practice, and have implications for improving reproductive health services. Meeting the reproductive health needs of Russian women requires not only improved provider and client knowledge but may also demand a more focused delivery of client-centred care than may be the case in other settings.

[The identification of persons with excess body weight by means of a mail survey]. / Vyiavlenie lits s izbytochnoi massoi tela metodom pochtovogo oprosa.

The data of postal questionnaire were compared to those obtained as a result of examination (anthropometry) of a random sample (n-806) of persons working at one of the Moscow industrial enterprises. It has been shown that the postal questionnaire makes it possible to assess the body weight with an accuracy of up to +/- 3 kg in 67 percent of men and in 69 percent of women. Meanwhile the height could be assessed with an accuracy of up to +/- 3 cm in 93 percent of men and in 80 percent of women. The relationship was established between the error made in the subjective assessment of the body weight and the genuine magnitude of the body weight. The possibilities of correcting the data obtained have been also demonstrated. The postal questionnaire permits the identification of excess body weight (Quetelet's index over 28) in 68 percent of men and in 78 percent of women and can be used for studying the prevalence of excess body weight among the population without employment of additional manpower for examinations.