Murray Feshbach

Murray Feshbach is a research professor at Georgetown University and editor of Environmental and Health Atlas of Russia. In the following viewpoint, he asserts that Russia faces a serious public health crisis that is only partially attributable to its environmental problems. Feshbach predicts that Russia’s population is likely to decline because of deaths due to alcoholism, violence, and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and AIDS. Russia’s health emergency will seriously degrade all efforts to solve Russia’s other social and economic problems, he concludes.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. How large a decline in Russia’s population does Feshbach predict?
2. Why does Feshbach believe that official figures understate the incidence of tuberculosis in Russia?
3. What factors are creating an AIDS...