Health systems in transition : Uzbekistan

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Executive summary
Introduction
U
zbekistan is a central Asian country that became independent in 
1991 with the break-up of the Soviet Union. It has a population of 
30.2 million (as of 2013), about half of whom live in rural areas. The 
country has 14 administrative divisions: 12 regions (
viloyats
), one autonomous 
republic (Karakalpakstan, at the north-western end of the country) and one 
administrative city, the capital Tashkent. The local administrative levels are 
tumans
 (
rayon
 in Russian, district in English) and cities. 
Life expectancy at birth in 2012 was recorded in official statistics at 
70.7 years for males and 75.5 years for females. However, World Bank estimates 
are lower, suggesting a male life expectancy at birth of 64.8 years and a female 
life expectancy of 71.5 years. The discrepancy is due to a combination of 
factors, in particular under-reporting of infant mortality, as well as differences 
in definitions, methodology and sources (with the World Bank estimates being 
based on survey data). 
Diseases of the circulatory system (mainly ischaemic heart disease and 
cerebrovascular disease) are the most common causes of death in Uzbekistan. 
The mortality rate from diseases of the circulatory system has increased in 
Uzbekistan since the 1980s, a development that mirrors the trends in other 
countries of central Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), 
but contrasts with trends in western Europe, where mortality from this group of 
causes of death has continuously declined in recent decades. Also similarly to 
other countries of the region, there has been a resurgence of tuberculosis in the 
years after independence, as well as an increase in multi-drug and extensively 
drug-resistant tuberculosis, and HIV infections have increased steeply in the 
2000s and early 2010s.

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Health systems in transition
  
Uzbekistan