Health Status

World Health Organization

Uzbekistan has not been marked by the trends in life expectancy and mortality that are characteristic of the majority of the NIS. The steady increase in life expectancy at the end of the 1980s was replaced by a sharp fall in the first half of the 1990s. This was halted in 1994, and an upturn was seen in 1995.

However, there are still high levels of mortality from cardiovascular infectious and parasitic and respiratory diseases. As in most other NIS, the incidence of tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections is increasing.

Life expectancy

The fall in life expectancy in Uzbekistan between 1990 and 1994 was not as significant as in most other NIS. This indicator has been rising since 1995. According to the latest available data, the life expectancy in Uzbekistan (68.7 years in 1998) is higher than the average for the NIS and CAR. However, it is substantially lower than life expectancy in EU countries.

While life expectancy among women is close to the CAR average, the figure for men is significantly higher than the average for both the CAR and NIS.

Main causes of death and disease

As in most other countries, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death, both in people up to 65 years and in older age groups. The share of under-65 mortality attributable to CVD, diseases of the respiratory and digestive systems, and infectious and parasitic diseases is higher than the European average, whereas that due to cancer is lower. These differences are even more marked when compared with the averages for western European countries alone.

As in a number of other CAR, the main reasons for inpatient treatment are diseases of the respiratory and digestive systems and infectious and parasitic diseases. It is noteworthy that in Uzbekistan the figure for inpatient treatment with a diagnosis of diseases of the digestive system is higher than that for diseases of the circulatory system.

Cardiovascular diseases

The trend in premature mortality due to CVD, like that of total mortality, is distinguished by a less marked rise than the average for the CAR. Nonetheless, this increase has been very substantial and, according to available data, CVD mortality in Uzbekistan remains one of the highest in WHO's European Region.

The increase in CVD mortality in Uzbekistan up to 1994 was mainly due to ischaemic heart disease and other diseases of the circulatory system. At the same time, mortality due to cerebrovascular diseases remained virtually stable, but then increased sharply in 1994; it has subsequently declined slowly. To some extent, this may be due to changes in the practice of coding causes of death.

Cancer

Cancer mortality in Uzbekistan, one of the lowest in the Region, has fallen steadily since 1986.

Mortality due to cancer of the trachea/ bronchus/lung is also substantially lower than the average for the NIS and EU, and it remains one of the lowest in the European Region.

Injury and poisoning

National and religious characteristics mean that mortality due to injury and poisoning in Uzbekistan has not been so strongly affected by alcohol consumption as in most NIS. It did not therefore undergo as significant an increase after the end of the anti-alcohol campaign in the former USSR.

Mortality due to homicide in Uzbekistan is lower than the averages for the CAR and NIS, but still substantially higher than in countries of western and central Europe.

Mortality due to road traffic accidents is also comparatively low.

Mental health

For a number of years, mortality due to suicide in Uzbekistan has remained at a relatively low level, somewhat lower than the EU average and significantly lower than in most NIS. The suicide trend has not shown the sharp changes characteristic of most NIS. The incidence of mental disorders has been almost stable for a number of years, at around 130–140 per 100 000 population. The incidence of disorders related to abuse of narcotic substances and that of alcoholic psychoses are substantially lower than in most other NIS.

Infectious diseases

Mortality due to infectious diseases stabilized from the start of the 1990s, after a significant fall in the second half of the 1980s. Unlike the other CAR, there has been virtually no increase in this indicator in Uzbekistan.

As a result, the latest data show that infectious disease mortality in Uzbekistan is lower than in the other CAR, although it is higher than in other countries of the Region.