Estonian government has decided to make the translation of over-the-counter drug package information leaflets into Russian obligatory. The translation will be done by the national Agency of Medicines and should be available to customers since the beginning of 2017. So far, distributors have often refused to provide the translation, claiming that it would make higher prices necessary.

The lack of leaflets in Russian language has been the subject to debates over many years, including being part of election platforms for several political parties during the last elections. Integration monitoring studies have shown that the information in Russian language on health related issues, including instructions on drug packages, are considered necessary among 80% of national minorities living in Estonia. As one-third of Estonian population is Russian-speaking, among whom significant proportion of people do not speak Estonian language to a sufficient degree, thus having the leaflets translated into their mother tongue helps to minimize the misuse of medications.

Recent studies confirm that the problem with Estonian language skills among Russian-speaking population is still mainly unresolved. The Russian-language school reform has generated so called “lost generation” of young people (see in more detail here), who struggle to understand subjects taught in Estonian, who are therefore not able to carry on studies at the universities, and thus choose to continue their education in Russian-language vocational schools.