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Cuba with lowest Latin American
infant mortality rate
• Lowest figure in Cuban history •
Only Canada has a lower ratio in the Americas
BY ORFILIO PELAEZ —Granma
daily staff writer—
IN
2006, Cuba achieved the lowest infant mortality rate
in its history with a figure of 5.3 per 1,000 live
births; a figure that confirms us as the leading
country in Latin America with respect to such an
important indicator.
 The
aforementioned figure places the island in the top
30 nations throughout the world whose children have
a greater probability of life from the moment they
are born until they celebrate their first birthdays.
In the general panorama of the Americas, only Canada
has a lower rate than Cuba.
According to data presented to Granma by the
National Statistics Office at the Ministry of Public
Health, the provinces with the lowest infant
mortality rates for 2006 were Holguín (3.8),
Camagüey (4.3), Granma and Matanzas (4.4). City of
Havana deserves special recognition for reducing its
level from 6.7 in 2005 to 4.9 last year.
What
is tangible is the equitable nature of the Cuban
health system, characterized for being universal,
free of charge and fully accessible in any corner of
the archipelago and that nine provinces have
produced rates below the national average.
 If
we analyse changes to this indicator from 1995 to
the present day, we can see that infant mortality
amongst minors of one year of age or less has been
reduced by 43.6%.
These indisputable successes have occurred in the
midst of the intensification of the heavy economic,
trade and financial blockade carried out for more
than 45 years by the government of the United
States, and are the fruit of a conscious political
decision by the Cuban state to prioritize infant and
maternal healthcare, as well as the selfless work of
family doctors and nurses, gyneco-obstetricians,
pediatricians,
geneticists, and other workers in the sector, not
forgetting support from members of the community and
the family itself.
It
is worth highlighting that in addition to the usual
services and care offered in Cuba to pregnant woman
and newly born infants (in the first year of life,
infants are progressively immunized against 13
different diseases) during 2006, three new tests
were added for prenatal investigations into
biotinidase deficiency, congenital adrenal
hyperplasia, and galactosemia, genetic diseases
capable of compromising the health of the baby.
 Also
carrying out an important role in the reduction of
the infant mortality rate has been the introduction
of modern technologies in pediatric and neonatal
services, and improvements to the work undertaken at
the William Soler Cardiocenter and the National
Genetics Center, leading prenatal diagnosis into
congenital cardiopathies.
This offers genetic assessment and early surgical
correction in those cases that require it,
operations which because of their complexity and
elevated cost are prohibitive for millions of
families on the planet. MINSAP’s own National
Statistics Office reported that in the
recently-concluded year, the principal causes of
death in Cuban children under one year of age were
perinatal conditions (occurring in the first days of
life), such as hypoxia, hyaline membrane disease,
and the bronchial respiration of meconium in the
amniotic fluid, similar to those of the most
developed countries in the world. |
