[On the groups of maternal support of breast feeding].

The article deals with the data related to the establishment in Russia of public associations of maternal support of breast feeding initiated by the WHO/UNISEF international initiative "Baby friendly hospital". The breast feeding is mostly a concern of medicine and medical institutions of obstetrics and pediatrics and corresponding specialists such as obstetrician-gynecologist, neonatologist and pediatrician. Hence the issue of appropriateness of existence of such groups, their competence and relationship with medical personnel and forms of activity has to be considered From historical point of view, in Soviet health care accumulated very rich experience of effective cooperation of public activists of Russian Red Cross with public health bodies in implementation of preventive and health improving activities, including health education of population groups.

[Improving the system of public health financing].

The paper provides data on health status of children and adult population, and medico-demographic situation in the country. An account is also given of organizational and financial issues of medical care in foreign countries. The issues related to the organization of medical care, management of public health financing of the branch under new conditions are dealt with.

[Quantitative evaluation of the effects of environmental factors on health status indices].

The article is devoted to the problem of improving the methods of data collection and processing in solving the question of evaluating the health effect of environmental factors. Circumstances are pointed out which hamper the acquisition of reliable and operative data. The ways of improving the effectiveness of computer use are considered.

[Use of expert assessments in the determination of priority trends in social hygiene and public health organization].

The study data on the evaluation of future trends in research on social hygiene and public health organization are provided. It was an expert method that was used to study the opinion of leading scientists in social hygiene and of a large number of experts-managers of public health bodies and institutions. The computerised data permitted to determine the present and future priority problems in the field of social hygiene which could be used by research workers as a social goal for practical application.