RoA Deputy Health Minister Tatul Hakobyan, during a press conference held today regarding developments in the health field, said that the average life expectancy of a male was 70 and 77 for females. Minister Hakobyan said that mortality rates were still high but that there was a slight downward trend of late. He credited the work of the government and health ministry for the decrease. The major causes of death, according to the minister, are cardio-vascular, cancer-related, respiratory and digestive, in descending order.

He said that not enough women of childbearing age were paying sufficient attention to their health, especially when it came to getting breast cancer exams. The minister noted that the level of maternity care had improved significantly as of late and that the number of complaints had dramatically dropped. Minister Hakobyan also said that while Yerevan had adequate numbers of qualified physicians, the same couldn’t be said for the country’s outlying provinces. He said that the government had devised a plan where medical students receiving state assistance would have to serve for at least three years in a provincial medical institution.