Social development
Land privatisation in the 1990s turned Kyrgyzstan’s collective farm workers into independent farmers.
However, disputes over land and a lack of agricultural knowledge have made life difficult.
The Soviet system ensured a high standard of health care for ordinary people. But the system deteriorated after independence and hospitals slid into disrepair.
People living on the land suffer from malnutrition, while in urban areas drugs and prostitution have triggered an explosion in the number of Aids cases.
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