Public Health Crisis in Turkmenistan

Since 1991, the Turkmen government has made drastic cutbacks in the healthcare system while discouraging the compilation and distribution of data that could help contain the spread of deadly diseases.

Public health conditions in Turkmenistan could be described as alarming, and most signs point to the continuing decay of the quality of life in the country. According to the most recent estimates, Turkmen citizens had an average life expectancy of 62.7 years in 2002, the lowest expected lifespan in Europe and Central Asia. The typical European Union resident, by contrast, lived an average of 16 years longer than Turkmen citizens. Meanwhile, infant mortality in Turkmenistan was estimated at 16 times greater than in EU member states, with roughly 76 out of every 1,000 Turkmen babies born failing to survive for one year.

In 2004, President Niyazov ordered the dismissals of an estimated 15,000 health care workers, replacing skilled professionals in most instances with military conscripts. In February of 2005, Niyazov suggested closing all hospitals outside of the capital Ashgabat.

In light of these facts, OSI's Public Health Program and the Turkmenistan Project gathered a group of experts to discuss the international reaction to the deteriorating public health situation in the country. Speakers included:

• Dr. Martin McKee, co-director of the European Centre on Health of Societies in Transition, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and co-author of the OSI-funded study "Human Rights and Health in Turkmenistan" (2005).
• Lucy Ash, presenter for BBC Radio World Current Affairs and “Crossing Continents,” Radio 4’s main foreign affairs documentary strand. Ash traveled to Turkmenistan in 2005 and produced rare field-based coverage of health concerns there.

Read a summary of the event.

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