«This edition presents a short version of the book published in Russia under the same title. It analyzes the demography and the current health status of population in Russian Federation during the last 30 years (in comparison with the original version, more data were included to cover the period to the year 2009). The current problems and challenges to public healthcare in the near future are considered in details and comprehensively illustrated with clear statistics. Based on this analysis and the published data on the results of healthcare innovations in Russia and other countries, the major guidelines, tasks, implementation mechanisms, and realization indicators of «The Development Strategy of Health Care in Russian Federation toward the Year 2020» are formulated. This book has been written for the healthcare managers, physicians, medical and economy teachers, and a wide strata of intelligent readers.»