Ethnic medicine: from fundamental studies to practice of health preservation of the indigenous peoples in the North.

Objectives: We carry out social-hygienic and medical examinations of the indigenous population of the Russian northern territories.

Study design: Mobile medical teams examined the population of the most of settlements of the Nenets autonomous area.

Methods: The study of the peculiarities of the public health state of the indigenous people.

Results: The studies allowed us to work out normative indices of physical development, functional state of the systems of hemopoiesis, blood circulation, immunity, exchange of microelements and electrolytes, to reveal the region's peculiarities of functional indices of a number of life supporting systems and their influence on the character of pathology course, the regional structure of morbidity, to work out schemes of their correction rational under these conditions.

Conclusion: The results of the carried out long-term scientific and practical work on the study and preservation of health of the northern indigenous peoples small in number have led to conclusion about the need in organization of a new direction in medicine, i.e., ethnical medicine.