Cuban Infant Mortality Rate Lowest in LatAm

Havana, Jan 4 (Prensa Latina) Cuba reported Latin America's lowest infant mortality rate in 2007, with 5.3 children under one year dead out of every 1,000 live births, official sources revealed Friday.

That figure is similar to those reported by industrialized nations such as Canada, and even lower than that of the US, where the black population is less privileged than the white one.

According to the UN Report on the State of the World's Children 2007, the world infant mortality rate was 52 deaths for each 1,000 live births, and Latin America's 26. In western Africa, the figure was 108.

Based on statistics of the Mother-Child Care Program by the Cuban Public Health Ministry, Granma daily reported that six of the 14 Cuban provinces were below the national average, including Sancti Spiritus with 4.1, and Camaguey with 4.2. In addition, 21 municipalities registered zero infant mortality rate, the daily added.

The establishment of a free health care system for the entire population since the triumph to the Revolution on January 1, 1959 has allowed the low levels of child-mother mortality rate.