Vol. 4 ˇ No. 1 ˇ 2000

Peter M. Foggin, J. Marc Fogginand, C. Shiirev-Adiya

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Rapid changes are taking place in the lifestyle and environmental conditions of the semi-nomadic herders of Mongolia (Templer et al. 1993, Sneath 1993, Finke 1995)-indeed, life on the steppe is no longer what it once was (Jagchid and Hyer 1978, Bawden 1989). These changes no doubt have had an impact on the health levels of this population which still constitutes approximately twenty-five per cent of the national total (in 1992) of approximately 2.2 million people, and where the national rates of life expectancy and infant mortality were 61.3 years, and 59.8 per thousand respectively (Randall 1993, WHO and Ministry of Health 1993). Beginning with major political reforms in 1990, Mongolia has undergone rapid transition from a highly bureaucratic, centrally planned state to an open market economy and more pluralistic political system (Akiner 1991, Milne et al 1991). The dislocation that has accompanied these adjustments has handicapped attempts to expand, and even to maintain, modern health care as practised for several decades (WHO and Ministry of Health 1993).