Health care and public health in Russia in 2022

The main challenge of the year for domestic health care was the need to maintain the achieved level of quality and accessibility of medical care in unfavorable macroeconomic atmosphere. Despite medical products were not formally the core of Western sanctions, provision of the industry was dramatically complicated due to restrictions on transportation, uncertainty of the exchange rate and departure of a number of suppliers from the Russian market. For most of the year, health care system also continued to struggle with the pandemic of a new coronavirus infection. While the severity of the disease declined sharply, the spread of COVID-19 remained widescale enough to place a high burden on health care organizations. External and internal constraints were bound to have a negative impact on the implementation of the national project “Health Care” and sectoral projects of smaller scale. Overall consequences of the crisis for the sector development can be assessed only after the restructuring of previously approved programs and projects is completed. Nevertheless, implementation of the majority of planned activities continues, while cancellations or significant temporary shifts of projects are isolated.