2. Preventive healthcare and promoting healthy lifestylesThis approach is crucial in addressing Russia’s worryingly low life expectancy and demographic trends. Young people in Russia have 4 times the mortality rate of their peers in western European countries, and 75% of deaths are from entirely preventable causes. Young people need information and skills to equip themselves to be healthy and to mitigate or avoid the risks they face as a young generation in a globalised society. UNICEF has supported a growing network of youth-friendly health services in Russia, addressing the special information and counseling needs of adolescents as well as their medical problems. UNICEF has worked with the Ministry of Health and Social Development, regional health authorities and AIDS organizations to develop effective methods to prevent HIV infection between parents and their infants, with markable success in regions where we have worked. We strongly promote the use of iodised salt to prevent iodine deficiencies among even the poorest pregnant mothers, since this directly affects the intellectual potential of the child. UNICEF launched the ‘Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative’ in Russia which strongly promotes breastfeeding as a developmental priority and also to ensure bonding between mother and child and prevent abandonment. We believe that maximizing the potential development of every child born is more important than increasing fertility rates.
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