Wakening the «Buddhist Orient»: health improvement and sanitary education campaigns in Buryatia and Mongolia, 1920s - 1970s

The article considers campaigns against social diseases, for health improvement and sanitary education in Buryatia (1920s-1930s) and Mongolian People’s Republic (1930s-1970s). The organization of such campaigns is regarded in the field of geopolitics as an element of «soft power» influence of Soviet medicine on the Mongolian peoples of Inner and East Asia. The ideological contents and methods of these campaigns are considered, their impact on the traditional culture and lifestyle of Buryats and Mongols is analyzed.