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Expert Discussion Focuses on Public Health and Risks

18 March 2019

The Boiling Point Coworking Space of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives hosted a strategic session titled ‘Impact of the Need to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle on Demographic Indicators’, which was conducted as part of preparations for a meeting of a working group of the Russian State Council on Social Policy.

The event was organized by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) together with the Roscongress Foundation, the Russian Ministry of Health, and the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). 

Experts on healthy lifestyles as well as representatives of the government and the business community discussed issues related to the promotion of healthy lifestyles in Russia, the implementation of state programmes on public health at the regional and federal levels, best practices for drafting and introducing corporate health promotion programmes as well as the development of proper nutrition culture as a factor in improving the quality of life. 

The strategic session was attended by: Head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and Chairman of the Public Health Subgroup of the Working Group of the Russian State Council on Social Policy Aisen Nikolayev, Russian Deputy Minister of Health Oleg Salagay, First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy Igor Kagramanyan, Director of the Lopatkin Research Institute of Urology and Interventional Radiology under the Ministry of Health Oleg Apolikhin, President of the National Resort Association Alexander Razumov, Co-Chairman of the Russian Patients Association Yury Zhulev, Vice President of the Gerontological Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Khavinson, Chairman of the STOPNARKOTIK national movement Sergey Polozov, and Head of the Strategic Consulting Group at the Health Development Centre of Skolkovo Moscow School of Management Irina Svyato, among others. “Today’s session, which was held with the support of the Roscongress Foundation, is devoted to implementing one of the most important objectives of the President’s May decrees: increasing healthy life expectancy. Experts and leading industry specialists are the ones who will determine how to do this and what measures will help to increase the proportion of the population that leads a healthy lifestyle. I am certain that we will be able to find effective measures that will enable our citizens to be healthier”, Salagay said while opening the session.

An active discussion was recently held in Sochi at the Healthy Life Forum: Towards 80+ on measures to introduce public health programmes. During the Healthy Life Forum, Adviser to the Russian President Anton Kobyakov underscored the immediacy and importance of Russia’s strategic development goals announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a set of decrees he issued in May. “The healthcare system is actively developing today in Russia, which entails providing comprehensive medical care and preventive measures, and public attention is being drawn to sports and physical activity. The country’s development in all areas depends on people’s proper and healthy lifestyle. I am convinced that serious attention needs to be paid to this focus in public because the health of the whole nation depends on it”, Kobyakov said.

Roscongress Foundation First Deputy Director for Development of Development Direction of the Roscongress Foundation Anastasia Stolkova noted, “the topic of preserving one’s health and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is becoming increasingly important. The Roscongress Foundation views this focus as strategic and is actively integrating it into the agenda of its business events. We are continuing the discussion to work out specific actions at the federal and regional level using the ASI platform”.

Upon completing their work, the members of the expert community proposed specific measures to create a system to motivate people to engage in physical activity to improve their health, introduce corporate health promotion programmes among employees, build a culture of proper nutrition, and reduce the prevalence of bad habits. The results of this work by the experts will subsequently be referred to the authorities to be studied and incorporated into government regulations.


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