Hoping to debunk such stories, provide a reliable source of health news and make some money, a French firm plans next month to launch Russia's first health magazine for expatriates.
"We have had so many questions about diphtheria, malaria, conditions in hospitals, etc., that we realized there was a strong demand for information on these issues," said Faiz Henni, 23, the editor of "Your Health," which will also cover fitness and sports news.
The magazine, to be printed in English and French, is being published by Delta Consulting, a French insurance company active in the former Soviet Union.
The first 24-page issue, with a press run of 30,000 copies, will include articles on issues ranging from health conditions in the Moscow metro to contagious diseases in Russia, said Henni.
Six pages will be devoted to the quality of Russian drinking water. In the lengthy article, Russian and foreign experts reach the conclusion that Moscow's water may taste bad and look unpleasant, but is not dangerous by international standards.
"In Moscow," said Henni, a recent graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Sciences,"tests show that tap water is high in chlorine, but just as safe to drink as the water in Paris." The problem in Moscow, Henni said, is purely psychological.
The rest of the country, Henni admits, is a different story.
Along with security, health is a top concern for Russia's expatriate community.
"The first questions people ask when they come to Russia are mostly about food, water, and sanitary conditions in hospitals," said Jo?€?l Majewski, a French doctor at the European Medical Center.
"Is it safe to eat in Russian restaurants? What can we buy at the market? Can I jog in Moscow? What about emergency surgery?"
The state of Russian public health is also a big concern of many expatriates.
"We have heard so many things, read so many articles, about the degradation of Russia's public services that foreigners really don't trust (them)," said a personnel director of a French company with 15 expatriate workers in Russia.
"What justifies this lack of trust is that Russians themselves have absolutely no trust in their own public services, such as hospitals," said the personnel director who asked not to be named.
These fears can lead to all sorts of speculation and rumors, such as the presence of buried radioactive waste in Gorky Park, or the sanitary dangers of riding Moscow's metro.
In an interview in the January issue of "Your Health," the chief of the metro's sanitary and epidemiological center discusses the question of infectious agents, rats, lice and air pollution.
Tatyana Dubrovskaya says that health standards are much higher for the metro than for any other public place in Moscow. Dubrovskaya's workers test the air in the metro, checking its temperature, speed of circulation, and dust, chemical and bacteriological content. She also insists that the story of mutant rats living in the metro is simply untrue.
"Your Health," a black-and-white publication, is being published in cooperation with the weekly newspaper Moscow News, and will be available for free in Western clinics, pharmacies and fitness centers, and in many hotels and restaurants, Henni said, adding that subscriptions will cost about $20 a year.
Printing costs of $7,500 for the initial press run were covered by advertisers.
In the coming months, Henni said the magazine plans to increase distribution to 50,000 and to circulate the magazine to other cities with sizable foreign communities in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
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