1960s and 1970 called for 23 to 25 percent of the
state budget to be spent on social and cultural sectors. In 1967, when
total planned budget spending was 3.6 billion leks (5 leks equal
US$1--see Glossary), the sum for social and cultural sectors was 837
million leks, of which 189 million were for health, 167 million for
social insurance, 143 million for assistance to mothers and children,
and 338 million for education and culture.

The government maintained that it was improving living conditions by
increasing food supplies and commodities and by construction of public
facilities and structures. In February 1970 the chairman of the State
Planning Commission reported that 1,200 dining rooms, 1,140 bakeries,
1,850 public baths and laundries, and 187 water mains had been built and
that electricity had been supplied to 1,096 additional villages in 1968
and 1969, leaving only 663 without electricity. Although these additions
added to the amenities of life, the rapid growth of population caused
heavy strain on the very limited total resources available.

Medical authorities asserted that many diseases and afflictions that had
taken heavy tolls of life and tended to debilitate large segments of the
population before 1950 had been greatly reduced or eliminated. These
successes were primarily attributable to large-scale inoculation
programs, elimination or reduction in the number of disease-spreading
pests, and expansion of health services. Malnutrition, unsatisfactory
sanitary-hygienic conditions, and indifference to medical aid in some
areas posed problems for further improvements.

The Communist regime, posing as the protector of the masses, credited
itself with a revolutionary transformation in the health standards of
the country. Data on health and disease from other than Albanian sources
were not available. Statistics released by the Ministry of Health
indicated substantial improvements during the 1960s. Responsibility for
shortcomings and inadequacies relating to health care was attributed to
backwardness on the part of the people or to the lack of resources.
Failures on the part of the Party or government were not mentioned.

There were widespread epidemics of measles in 1948 and 1949 and 1954 and
1955, of Asiatic influenza in 1957, of typhoid in 1945 and 1950, and of
poliomyelitis in 1953. Health officials stated that there were no
epidemics during the 1960s.

Malaria was one of the most prevalent diseases before