That plea gave rise to the Future of Russia Foundation, an American-based not-for-profit, whose primary mission is to help Russia bring healthy children into the world.
The Future of Russia Foundation was created in August 2001 as an American based not-for-profit 501C3 foundation by Tom and Ann Murray of Sandusky, Ohio. The mission of the Future of Russia Foundation is to help Russia build a modern, sustainable health care delivery system for women and infants focused on reducing maternal and infant mortality.
 Russia is facing a demographic crisis with its declining population. This problem is having a profound adverse impact on the social, economic, and political fabric of life in Russia. There are three contributors to this crisis: emigration, a decreasing lifespan, and
a high infant mortality rate. A decrease in maternal and infant mortality rates will create an immediate and sustainable reduction in the population decline.
For a complete overview of the Future of Russia Foundation in a slide show presentation, please click Future of Russia Foundation overview.
OUR MISSION
The Future of Russia Foundation seeks to dramatically improve U.S. - Russia relations through a public/private initiative addressing Russia's most acute problem - its declining population - by reducing maternal and infant mortality.
WHY RUSSIA NEEDS YOUR HELP
Information that describes the suboptimal status of reproductive health and perinatal care in Russia, leading to the excessive deaths of mothers and infants, includes this data:
- Fertility is falling and new births are not at replacement levels.
- Maternal and infant deaths in Russia are two to three times higher than in countries of the European Union (EU).
- Fifty percent (50%) of mothers are not healthy during their pregnancy and at the
birth of their child.
- Over 50% of newborn infants are reportedly born unhealthy.
- For every infant death, another pregnancy results in a stillborn infant.
- Over half of all maternal and infant deaths in Russia occur during labor, delivery,
or during the first week after birth - the perinatal period.
- An even more disturbing finding is an increasing number of infants who survive infancy and are found to have neurological damage.
More than half of these infant deaths and the rising morbidity are preventable. This catastrophe, in major part, has resulted from the collapse of the Russian health care delivery system. This collapse has led to a combination of factors including the poor health of reproductive-aged women, badly managed pregnancies, and flawed childbirth practices. There are reduced quantities or even complete absences of some critical drugs and/or pieces of equipment needed during labor, delivery, or the first critical week after
birth, the procurement of which can save lives. And finally, the maternal and perinatal surveillance system has not been designed to transparently document pregnancy outcomes for each individual woman in order to improve the quality of care and health
outcomes of pregnancy.
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