Cuban territories keep infant mortality rate at the lowest levels

Havana, August 4 (AIN) While UNICEF reports that some 250 000 children below 5 years of age die every year in Latin America from curable diseases, Cuba maintains the lowest infant and maternal mortality rates in the region.

Over the past six months, the sensitive indicators were kept a zero in rural and mountainous areas in central Cuba, such as the Manicaragua municipality in Villa Clara province.

The achievement is due to the use of advanced technology and specialized health care assistance offered by highly skiled medical personnel in those territories located hundreds of kilometers from the Capital Havana, as Juventud Rebelde daily newspaper reports Wednesday.

The efficient health care service has also saved the lives of persons who have suffered from serious health problems, such as heart attacks, as well as those who have survived different kinds of accidents.

Just recently, the Isle of Youth Special Municipality, south of Havana, reported a 3,7 mortality rate, the lowest such indicator in the history of that Cuban territory.

The effectiveness of the Cuban health care system has lowered the island's mortality rate to only 6,3 per every 1000 live births, while most deaths occur during the first days of life as the consequence of congenital disorders, particularly cardiovascular diseases.

The social and economic programs undertaken by the Cuban Revolution has significantly improved the quality of life of the rural and mountainous population in different part of the country and that has included the outfitting of schools with audiovisual and computer equipment; the improvement land access to different settlements, the increase of services, recreational options, as well as the growth of food production and the application of scientific results in agriculture.

Best viewed with Internet Explorer browser
800 x 600 resolution
Copyright © Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Cuba, 2003