Russians urged to improve health

The head of the World Health Organisation, Gro Harlem Brundtland, has urged Russia to combat alcohol and tobacco abuse and do more to improve health.

She told a news conference in Moscow that firm action would go a long way to stem the decline in life expectancy.

Russian men now live an average of sixty years, and women seventy-two.

The World Health chief also called for stronger measures to tackle Aids and tuberculosis, the latter chronic in Russia's overcrowded prisons.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service