Richard Stone in his News Focus article “Stress: The invisible hand in Eastern Europe's death rates” (9 June, p. [1732][1]) highlights a serious problem in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and especially those of the former Soviet Union. I recently visited Moldova and Armenia. If you ask medical doctors there about the current health service, they say it is chaotic and many times worse than in Soviet times. Diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis are on the increase. A large part of the problem is that many patients don't have the money to buy drugs or even anesthetics. The result is that the hospitals are short of patients and doctors are unemployed. Stone's article ends with a statement that “improving life expectancy in Eastern Europe lies with the region's economy.” In Moldova and Armenia, I saw no signs of such improvement and hence am rather fearful for the future, as most likely the populations of these countries are as well. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.288.5472.1732