Passing of Traditional Way of Life among Peoples of the North Undermining Their Health and Threatening Their Survival, Sakha Study Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 31 – Because of changes in lifestyle and especially diet under the impact of Soviet and Russian policies and because of inadequate healthcare recently made worse by Vladimir Putin’s “optimization” of medical services, the peoples of the North are suffering from rapidly escalating rates of heart disease and increased mortality as a result.

            Tatiana Popova, head of the Yakutsk Center for Complex Medical Problems, says these changes in the health of the Dolgans, Evens, Evenks, Chukchis, and Yukagirs are directly related to changes in lifestyle and diet among them in recent decades (nazaccent.ru/content/37331-otkaz-ot-tradicionnogo-obraza-zhizni-mog-privesti-k-rostu-zabolevanij-serdca-u-zhitelej-arktiki.html).

            Such changes are unfortunately the norm in many traditional societies undergoing modernization imposed from the outside, but they are especially serious in places like today’s Russia where the government has in the name of economy cut back on medical treatment facilities that could ease this transition.

            The danger is that high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes will only accelerate the disappearance of these peoples who are already under pressure from policies intended to weaken their identities and lead them to assimilate into larger nations and especially the Russian.