Article
Заболеваемость и смертность от COVID-19. Проблема сопоставимости данных
The numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths are currently attracting worldwide attention. Different web resources publish these data for countries and their regions. The data are available to everyone and are updated in almost real-time mode. The rapid collection of data on cases and deaths and the open access of these data clearly provide important advantages in combating the epidemic, predicting its spread, and planning containment measures. An important area of research on the COVID-19 epidemic is the comparison of countries and territories by their levels of morbidity, lethality, and mortality. Given the opportunities opening up today for data analysis, it is crucially important to understand according to what criteria the data are collected.
This paper discusses the key issues of collecting data on COVID-19 cases and deaths and raises the question of data comparability across countries. It shows that countries differ significantly in their approaches to reporting COVID-19 cases and deaths. The data comparability across countries can be influenced, among other things, by the availability of tests, the criteria adopted by the country for testing for the virus (both while the patient is alive and post-mortem), and approaches to determining the cause of death and recording COVID-19 deaths in those with pre-existing chronic conditions. Different approaches to recording COVID-19 cases and deaths across countries, as well as their changes over time, pose significant limitations to our ability to assess the spread of the epidemic. These limitations should be taken into account when performing the analysis of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Ignoring these limitations can significantly distort our understanding of the spread of the epidemic across different territories.
This work contains an express answer to four questions about what happened in the higher education system at the very beginning of the introduction of quarantine measures: (1) how have universities and the states reacted worldwide? (2) what are the reaction of Russian universities? (3) how do students and teachers perceive the situation? (4) Is there enough infrastructure to implement quarantine measures of remote work and training?
Most of the analytics were collected on an initiative basis, but the most important sections were written on the basis of data collected within the working group of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science to organize educational activities in the context of preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection in the Russian Federation under the leadership of the Department of Youth Policy (in terms of sociological student survey) and the Department of Information Technology in the field of science and higher education (in terms of monitoring infrastructure and opportunities Translation courses in distance learning). Data collection and analysis would not have been possible without cooperation with MIREA, as well as representatives of ITMO University, Ural Federal University, Tomsk State University and support from Mail.ru Group and the Association of Volunteer Centers.
The authors discuss social and demographic processes in the rural regions of the Russian Near North and, first of all, in the Kostroma region – one of the socially problematic regions in the Russian Federation. In the article, the attention is focused on the analysis of mechanisms and assessment of scales of the depopulation: high mortality, migration of youth and middle aged people to the cities, deformations in age and gender structure with prevalence of the elderly population and a small share of children. The authors state essential distinctions of demographic indicators between municipalities in the Kostroma region and emphasize importance of social and demographic research on a basic municipal level. Indicators of the low life expectancy, high mortality caused by external reasons (alcoholism, murders, suicides, etc.), and high migration of youth are seen as the objective indicators of social problems in the local communities. It demands special attention on the part of the government authorities that plan social programs and take administrative decisions.
The Arctic Council is well-positioned to play a leadership role in better understanding the impact of Covid-19 in the Arctic and spearheading activities to respond to the pandemic in the short-, medium- and longer-term. This briefing document was prepared to inform initial discussions regarding the coronavirus pandemic in the Arctic at the Senior Arctic Officials’ executive meeting (SAOX) on 24-25 June 2020. It draws together available information – to date (June 2020) – about the impact of Covid-19 in the Arctic: Briefing Document for SAOs June 2020 For public release Page 10 of 83 Covid-19 and the actions taken to respond in the Arctic region. The document draws from a wide spectrum of sources, reflecting the complex and intricate nature of how Covid-19 affects Arctic peoples and communities, including national and subnational statistical databases and tools, peer-reviewed articles, policy statements, technical guidelines, field surveys, and local observations from Arctic communities.
After a long decline, life expectancy in Russia substantially increased in 2004-2010; this is the longest period of health improvement that has been observed in the country since 1965. This study is the first analysis of this positive trend.
We seek to determine the causes and age groups that account for the additional years of life gained in 2004-10 and the remaining gap between Russia and Western countries, to assess to what extent these recent trends represent a new development relative to previous mortality fluctuations, and to identify possible explanations for the improvement.
We present an analysis of trends in life expectancy, and in age- and cause-specific mortality in Russia and selected countries in Eastern and Western Europe. We use decomposition techniques to examine the life expectancy rise in 2004-2010 and the Russia-UK life expectancy gap in 2010.
918 http://www.demographic-research.org
Like the previous mortality fluctuations that have occurred in Russia since the mid-1980s, the increase in life expectancy was driven by deaths at ages 15 to 60 from alcohol-related causes. Uniquely in the recent period, there were also improvements at older ages, especially in cerebrovascular disease mortality among women. In addition, there were reductions in deaths from avoidable causes, such as from tuberculosis and diabetes. The life expectancy gap between Russia and Western countries remains large, and is mostly attributable to deaths from cardiovascular disease, alcohol-related conditions, and violence.
The decrease in alcohol-related mortality may be attributable to measures taken in 2006 to control the production and sale of ethanol. The lower number of cerebrovascular-related deaths may reflect advancements in blood pressure control. The reduction in the number of deaths from tuberculosis and diabetes may be associated with a general improvement in health care. Although the decline in mortality since 2004 has been substantial, the question of whether it can be sustained remains open.
The coronavirus pandemic (SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19, 2019nCoV), which, according to the Chinese office of the World Health Organization (WHO), began to spread from Wuhan no later than December 2019, now has secured its place among global security challenges. Scientists are trying to develop a vaccine against the 2019-nCoV virus, and WHO is helping them. According to the Nature magazine, in April 2020, more than 90 vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 were in the development of a number of pharmaceutical companies (for example, Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline) and research groups at universities around the world. Researchers tested various technologies, some of which had not previously been used in licensed vaccines. In this paper, we will try to outline some trends in the fight against the pandemic within the countries of the Iberian Peninsula, special attention will be paid to information coverage of this process and misinformation (fake news phenomenon)
The paper reveals main problems of mortality statistics, including recorded causes of death. Miscoding of homicides, self-harm, tuberculosis, cardiovascular disease distorts the actual mortality statistics as to causes of death. There are a number of problems with completion of death certificates, measuring infant mortality, and estimating life expectancy. The paper provides recommendations for improving the system of forensic examination and enhancing coordination between statistical bodies, health bodies, and police. Other important conditions for improving the quality of mortality statistics are increased demographic literacy and a growing standard of living of the population.
Several approaches to the concept of fatherhood present in Western sociological tradition are analyzed and compared: biological determinism, social constructivism and biosocial theory. The problematics of fatherhood and men’s parental practices is marginalized in modern Russian social research devoted to family and this fact makes the traditional inequality in family relations, when the father’s role is considered secondary compared to that of mother, even stronger. However, in Western critical men’s studies several stages can be outlined: the development of “sex roles” paradigm (biological determinism), the emergence of the hegemonic masculinity concept, inter-disciplinary stage (biosocial theory). According to the approach of biological determinism, the role of a father is that of the patriarch, he continues the family line and serves as a model for his ascendants. Social constructivism looks into man’s functions in the family from the point of view of masculine pressure and establishing hegemony over a woman and children. Biosocial theory aims to unite the biological determinacy of fatherhood with social, cultural and personal context. It is shown that these approaches are directly connected with the level of the society development, marriage and family perceptions, the level of egality of gender order.