Moldova - Health

Moldova has been working on developing its own standards for health care. As of 1999, there were an estimated 3.5 physicians and 12.1 hospital beds per 1,000 people. Total health care expenditures in 1999 were 6.4% of GDP.

The 1999 birth rate was 14 per 1,000 people, with 64,740 births that year. The maternal mortality rate was 34 per 100,000 live births between 1989–1995. Average life expectancy was 68 years in 2000. The infant mortality rate for 2000 was 18 per 1,000 live births. The overall death rate was estimated at 12.6 per 1,000 people as of 2002. In 1992, there were approximately 1,000 deaths from ethnic conflict within the country. In 1995, nearly the entire urban population (96%), but only 9% of the rural population, had access to sanitation.

In 1997, Moldova's immunization rates for children up to one year old were: tuberculosis, 99%; diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus, 97%; polio, 98%; and measles, 99%. Despite high immunization rates, 2,626 cases of tuberculosis and 3,951 cases of measles were documented in 1995. In 1999, there were 130 reported cases of tuberculosis per 100,000 people. Epidemic diphtheria has spread throughout the new independent states of the former Soviet Union. In Moldova there was an 11% increase in diphtheria cases from 1994 to 1995. As of 1999, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS was estimated at 4,500 and deaths from AIDS that year were estimated at fewer than 100. HIV prevalence was 0.2 per 100 adults.