APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7
number of traffic offenses caused by drunkenness increased by 41% between 1967 and 1972—leading to a more stringent enforcement of the law against drinking before driving—and two-thirds of the convictions for public disorders in 1970 were attributed to drunkenness. From 1955 to 1970 the incidence of fatal cases of cirrhosis increased by 306% among men and 200% among women. In response to the negative influence of alcoholism on family life and its relationship to juvenile delinquency, the Novotny regime in 1964 made it a criminal offense to supply minors with liquor. The state now makes it a common practice to remove the child rather than the alcoholic from an unbearable family situation. It has also waged an extensive propaganda campaign against alcoholism, stressing both the preventive and curative aspects, and has approved the establishment of several agencies to deal with the problem.
Czechoslovak authorities believe that sexual problems are primarily responsible for the growing number of divorces and suicides, and the increasing incidence of venereal disease. Since 1965 the regime has established institutes and clinics for research psychiatry, psychology, and sexology, and has encouraged improved sex education among the population. To reduce the high number of divorces, which reached 28,000 in 1971, the government has also operated marriage counseling offices. Newspapers have also taken to printing articles on various social problems, such as prostitution, which were taboo in the past. The striptease shows, nudie magazines, and other forms of "softcore" pornography that appeared in the larger cities in the 1960's have been denounced as reflecting vestiges of "bourgeois morality." The illegal use of narcotics has been a relatively minor problem.
1. Health and sanitation
a. Medical problems
Diseases characteristic of an aging population—disorders of the heart, cerebrovascular maladies, malignant neoplasms—constitute the major health threats to the people of Czechoslovakia and are the principal causes of death. In 1970, these maladies accounted for more than half of all deaths. Obesity, which is common because of an excessive amount of carbohydrates in the diet, is associated with many cardiovascular disorders. An effective public health program has resulted in the decreased incidence of most communicable diseases. Immunization campaigns have enabled authorities to sharply reduce or eliminate such diseases as diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, dengue fever, poliomyelitis, smallpox, plague, and typhus fever. Czechoslovakia has also made great strides in reducing infant mortality. Shortly after World War II, one out of every seven infants died before reaching 1 year of age; at present only one in 50 succumb.
In 1971, the leading contagious diseases were measles, scarlet fever, shigellosis, infectious hepatitis, gonorrhea, pulmonary tuberculosis, and salmonellosis. Enteric infections are common; there were over 30,000 cases of shigellosis and salmonellosis in 1971. Enteric disorders are most prevent in the western part of Czechoslovakia were sewage contamination of water supplies or food contamination are frequently a source of infection. Water pollution has also caused infectious hepatitis; in 1971, an outbreak of this disease in Bratislava was traced to an oil seepage into the city's water supply.
Diseases of the respiratory system are common causes of morbidity and mortality. In 1970 approximately 16,000 died of respiratory infections, including influenza, pneumonia, acute bronchitis, and tuberculosis. Influenza epidemics occur each year or every other year; the incidence is highest among children and young adults, but mortality is highest among the elderly. A severe epidemic of "Hong Kong" flu raged through Bohemia and eastern Slovakia during the winter of 1971-72 causing a large number of hospitalizations and considerable disruption in the economy. The indigence of venereal disease, particularly gonorrhea, has been increasing. Official commentary blames the increase, more marked in the Czech Lands than in Slovakia, on prostitution and declining moral standards.
Improved living conditions and better personal hygiene are responsible for low levels of insect-borne diseases. Encephalitis has been on the decrease, and malaria is limited to a few imported cases. Q-fever is the most common rickettsial infection, affecting both animals and humans. Diseases affecting the animal population include foot-and-mouth disease, Teschen disease, Newcastle disease, fowl plague, swine erysipelas, and parasitic infections.
b. Medical care
The Czech Socialist Republic and the Slovak Socialist Republic each has its own ministry of health. Each ministry is responsible for regulating the training of medical personnel and setting medical standards, overseeing medical research facilities, governing the production and distribution of pharmaceuticals, and supervising all public health activities at regional, district, and local medical facilities. Coordination of
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7
