Background
The Future of Russia Foundation was born from a conversation in May 2000, between Founder Thomas J. Murray and his long-time friend, the late Academician Boris Topornin, Director of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Science, discussing the problems facing post-Soviet Russia in its struggle toward a genuinely democratic society. Asked by Mr. Murray how Americans could help, Academician Topernin referred to the demographic crisis, caused in large part by the high incidence of maternal and infant deaths in Russia (two to three times higher than in countries of the European Union), the high percentage of mothers (50%) unhealthy during their pregnancy and at the birth of their child, the high percentage (over 50%) of newborn infants are reportedly born unhealthy, and an increasing number of infants who survive infancy with neurological damage. Topernin concluded with conviction, “Help us help our children survive. Our children are the future of Russia.”
That conversation gave rise to the Future of Russia Foundation, an American-based not-for-profit 501(C)(3), whose primary mission is to help healthy Russian women bring healthy children into the world. In August 2001, Tom and his wife Ann Murray of Sandusky, Ohio, founded the Future of Russia Foundation whose sole mission is to help Russia build a modern, sustainable health care delivery system focused on the health of women of child-bearing age, the birth of healthy children, and reducing maternal and infant mortality.
The Murray family donated the first $3 m. in seed money. Drawing on his long history of work in Russia, Mr. Murray assembled a prominent group of internationally known Russians and Americans to form an Advisory Committee: the late Harold J. Berman, Esq., Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law, James Barr Ames Professor of Law Emeritus, Harvard University; the late Academician Boris N. Topernin, Director, Institute of State and Law, Russian Academy of Science; Lawrence O. Gostin, Esq., O’Neill Professor, Georgetown University School of Law; Director, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University; John Hopkins Center for Law and Health; Member, Institute of Medicine at National Academy of Sciences; Academician Alexander A. Dynkin, Director, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Science; James W. Curran, M.D., M.P.H., Dean, Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University; Reverend David T. Link, Esq., Assistant Director, Religious Activities, Indiana State Prisons; Dean Emeritus, Notre Dame School of Law. He recruited experienced CEO John C. Straub, Esq., to serve as CEO/President of the Foundation.
The Balashikha Project itself came into existence when Mr. Yuri Chevchenko, then-Minister of Health of the Russian Federation, invited Mr. Murray to develop with Russian experts a site-specific model maternal and perinatal health care delivery system. As originally planned, this program, once developed, could serve as a model throughout Russia to bring modern state-of-the-art care for mothers and infants. The site selected by Mr. Chevchenko for Mr. Murray’s model was the Maternity Hospital and Clinic in the town of Balashikha (Moscow Oblast). Thus the name “Balashikha Project.”
Within the first two years, the following objectives towards systemic modernization had been achieved:
- Formal and working linkages with the persons in the executive and legislative branches of the Moscow Oblast government that meets bimonthly by teleconferencing.
- Strong working relationship with the health professionals at the emerging Moscow Region Perinatal Center (MRPC), formerly the Balashikha Maternity House.
- Partnership between the Future of Russia Foundation, World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Reproductive Health, General Electric Co., Atlanta Rotary Club, and the Moscow Rossica Rotary Club to assist in procuring equipment for the Balashikha Project and to function as a model for Rotary International support.
- Education and training programs for health professionals through:
- Prenatal lectures at the MOH for all obstetricians and neonatologists/pediatricians of the Moscow Oblast.
- Two-week visit by six Russian health professionals, led by then-Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Gayane Tamazyan, to Atlanta to work with health professionals in all three branches of the WHO/CC/RH.
- Introducing modern data collection principles.
- At the request of the Senior Medical Staff in the Moscow Oblast Ministry of Health, day-long symposium "Law and Ethics in the Practice of Medicine and Public Health in the Russian Federation" during the Russian physicians’ Atlanta visit.
- Return visit to Atlanta by the Directors of Obstetrics and Neonatology (four weeks) and new Chief Physician (two weeks) from the MRPC to develop practice guidelines and a system of perinatal surveillance.
- Communication links established for continuous data sharing and analysis and Advisory Board meetings.
- Renovation and furnishing of the MRPC Antepartum Clinic.
- Procurement of modern equipment for the Antepartum Clinic.
- Design of birthing suites and attendant facilities to finish the MRPC.
- Plan for Implementation signed by Dr. Vladimir Yu. Semenov, Minister of Health of the Moscow Oblast, and Mr. John C. Straub, President/CEO of FOR.
- Prepared visits to Moscow and Atlanta by American and Russian health professionals (obstetrician, neonatologist, nurse midwife, neonatal nurse practitioner, epidemiologist, public health specialist, and pediatrician from the WHO/CC/RH), with continuous exchanges of surveillance data for total quality management and improvement.
