In order to explore the burden of disease in the country, a detailed analysis was carried out using the official 1993 mortality and morbidity data by the sector review team of the World Bank (see World Bank 1996). The analysis, which took into account the degree of disability caused by different diseases, was expressed in terms of disability adjusted life years lost (DALYs). Analysis of the burden of disease gave the following disease ranking (and in brackets the per cent of the total burden of disease due to the specific disease group):

o ischaemic heart diseases (19.1%);

o respiratory infections (17.5%);

o maternal and perinatal conditions (16.3%);

o diarrhoeal diseases (12.7%);

o cerebrovascular disease (8.7%);

o motor vehicle accidents (4.4%);

o chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (3.5%).

The first four groups account for 65 percent of the total burden of disease among the population of Turkmenistan. It can be seen that maternal and perinatal conditions account for about one sixth of the burden of disease experienced by the population of Turkmenistan.