Physical Health in Subjective Assessments of the Population of the Vologda Oblast: Territorial Aspect
Despite the convergent development of city and village manifested in their territorial and socio-cultural convergence, there remains a pronounced “urban-rural” dichotomy in the parameter such as the health status of the population. Thus, the characteristic feature of the Russian population is a significant gap between the life expectancy of rural and urban residents. Life expectancy in rural areas is currently less than that in the city: in Russia on average - by 2 years, in the Northwestern Federal District - by 3 years, in the Vologda Oblast - by 2.4 years. The cause of the observed gap is the excessive mortality of rural residents compared to urban from such causes of death as diseases of the circulatory system, external causes and diseases of the respiratory system. In the Vologda Oblast in addition to the above reasons, the rural population often dies from neoplasms, infectious and parasitic diseases. Largely this is due to the differences in the form and way of life, standard of living and quality of life, different availability of medical, cultural and other types of services as well as differences in health preservation attitudes of villagers and townspeople. The purpose of this article is to analyze the subjective characteristics of individual health of the population, including its self-preservation behavior, broken down by territories according to the results of a sociological survey carried out by the Institute of Socio-Economic Development of Territories of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is established that the rural population, despite its more favorable environmental, housing and living conditions, less susceptibility to stress, and more nutritious food compared to city dwellers, has in general lower health attitudes, which is manifested in a passive position in relation to the measures to maintain and improve their own health, low health and physical activity, and widespread harmful habits. However, it should be noted that the observed negative characteristics of self-preservation behavior among rural residents contain a serious potential for improving the quality of health, because demographic behaviour is a manageable factor and, therefore, under the influence of a number of measures, including preventive measures, it can be adjusted in the right way. In conclusion, the authors formulate promising directions of preserving and strengthening the health of rural population: increasing the standard of living and quality of life, increasing medical activity and the formation of health preservation culture, active involvement of the population in programs and activities for the prevention of morbidity and mortality from major causes.