| Summary: | Serbia is faced with many demographic challenges, and one of them is a relatively high mortality, especially the avoidable mortality. The clearest example of successful interventions to lower the mortality is the one which took place in a province of Finland called North Karelia between 1972 and 1977. A big campaign, with goal to lower the cardiovascular disease risk factors, mobilized not only the healthcare system, but also different multiple agents such as: schools, supermarkets, agriculture, civil society organizations, etc. Campaign proved to be very successful and was quickly expanded to include the entire country. The mortality by ischemic heart disease of those younger than 65 years in North Karelia was lowered by 73% between 1972 and 1995. Which parallels can be drawn from the mortality situations of Serbia today and Finland then? This paper identifies the causes of death that can be avoided where mortality rates are still very high in Serbia and identifies possible directions of measures geared toward lowering mortality.
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