natsionalnyj-doklad-o-chelovecheskom-razvitii human_dev_1996_eng | Page 6

increased, and a network of self-financing medical establishments has emerged, as well as pharmacies and clinics. Furthermore, new mechanisms are being sought for health care financing reform, including through private insurance. While state funds continue to provide well over 80% of all health financing, the portion of health care financed by private means increased from 1,5% in 1990 to 5,8% in 1995, while the share of the total national budget devoted to health increased from 8,6% to 10.5% in 1994, largely for salaries. In the education sector, despite limited budgets, the government is carrying out an ambitious program to restructure the educational system, to train more teachers, to produce more text books, and to overcome the shortage of financing, by shifting part of educational financing away from the state budget to enterprises and students. 8. Women and Gender Trends No specific section is devoted to women and gender considerations. 9. Environmental Trends Agriculture in Uzbekistan relics heavily on irrigated lands. There are 4.2 million hectares of irrigated lands, compared with 27 million hectares of irrigated lands. Recent analyses indicate that the quantity of irrigated lands suffering from low and medium levels of salinity has increased noticeably. In addition, drainage waters which flow into the Upper Amudarya River, when combined with the salination of the soil in the upper layers, hamper agricultural production in the Aral Sea region. Due to poor water resources management, and the absence of appropriate user fees, water consumption has tended to be high and inefficient. A result of this has been the progressive increase in the proportion of saline land to about 53% and the fall in the level of the Aral Sea. The development of industrial society, a larger population, and greater affluence, have intensified pressure on the environment. Households now use far more energy from non- renewable resources in the form of electricity, gas, petroleum and other fuels. Use of these resources has lowered the air quality. Household garbage today contains far more non- biodegradable materials than in the past, and reusable waste is seldom recycled or returned to the soil. A higher population density, centralized water and sewage systems, and thermal power and gas have gradually turned houses into sources of environmental pollution. Counteracting the contamination of the environment requires tremendous financial resources. 10. Housing and Human Settlements In Uzbekistan, 90% of the estimated 4.7 million families, which make up the population of 22.5 million, own their own apartments or houses, while 7% live in housing owned by construction cooperatives or enterprises, 2% rent privately and 1% live in hostels. After the beginning of the transition period in 1991 - 93, over 1.2 million dwellings were privatized. Population growth, at 2.3% per annum is quite high in Uzbekistan, and the Government has pursued a range of policies to maintain a rate of housing construction that will meet the needs of the increasing population. The Report considers that the Government has been very successful compared to most other governments of countries in transition. Housing construction has more than kept pace with population growth, especially in the rural areas, due largely to policies which provide plots of land and building materials to citizens at subsidized rates. However, in the urban areas, shortage of housing and space is becoming a problem. Furthermore, the transition period