MEASURE Evaluation in Russia

In the early 1990s, Russia restructured its economic sectors as well as social sector programs, privatizing many state projects and getting rid of fixed prices for goods. The effects of these reforms have reverberated throughout many facets of Russian society. In many sectors, rapid changes in productivity have resulted in significant changes in income, food supply, and the birth rate, as well as in disease patterns and health service utilization. Changes will create challenges in health, nutrition, family planning, and other social sector activities. The government expects to respond to these challenges by continually monitoring and adjusting its reform policies, and the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey - Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE) plays a key role in this monitoring process. The RLMS-HSE is maintained jointly by the Carolina Population Center at UNC-Chapel Hill and Demoscope in Russia.

The RLMS-HSE is a series of nationally representative household-based surveys designed to monitor effects of Russian reforms on the health and economic viability of its citizens. Since 1992, the survey has been conducted 18 times; the Carolina Population Center and Demoscope have run 14 of these rounds. In 2010, MEASURE Evaluation was asked to participate in instrument design and data analysis for a module on maternal and child health and family planning to be implemented as part of the 2010 round of The RLMS-HSE. 

Maternal and child health, family planning, and reproductive health all remain important focus areas for USAID and MEASURE Evaluation. According to the World Health Organization’s latest statistics, Russia’s maternal mortality ratio is 28 out of 100,000 live births. This figure hovers just over the European regional average, but more than doubles that of other eastern European countries like Bulgaria and Poland. The probability of a child dying before the age of five in Russia is 11 per 1,000 live births, which falls short of the regional average, but, again, remains substantially higher than that of other eastern European countries like Poland and the Czech Republic. And Russia’s adolescent fertility rate for females between the ages of 15 and 19 surpasses the overall European regional average by more than 20 percent.

In 2009, an assessment of USAID/Russia’s Maternal and Child Health, Family Planning and Reproductive Health portfolio revealed a need for timely data on key issues, such as contraceptive prevalence and abortion, at both national and regional levels. In response, MEASURE Evaluation was asked by USAID/Russia to work with the RLMS-HSE team and to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the pending round of data collection. As a first step, MEASURE Evaluation collaborated with an expert advisory group convened by USAID/Russia to review the component of the RLMS-HSE questionnaire specifically related to maternal and child health. The purpose of the expanded module is two-fold. It will provide reliable, publicly available data on key issues that can be used by the Russian government as well as non-governmental stakeholders to inform the delivery of health services and support advocacy efforts. These data will also provide evidence useful in the monitoring and evaluation of USAID-supported activities aimed at improving key indicators in this area.

Data from the 2010 round of the RLMS survey are expected in the summer of 2011. MEASURE Evaluation will take the lead in analyzing the data, and will prepare the first draft of a technical report to be distributed for review and comment by the experts at USAID/Russia and other stakeholders. Once stakeholder feedback has been incorporated, MEASURE Evaluation will prepare a final version for distribution in English, and Demoscope will provide translation into Russian.