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Cuba: Infant Mortality Remained Under 5.0 in 2011
HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 3 (acn) For
the fourth consecutive year, Cuba maintained its infant
mortality rate under 5.0 as it finished 2011 with 4.9 deaths
of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births.
An article
published by Granma newspaper on Tuesday reveals that in 17
out
of the country’s 168 municipalities the infant mortality
rate last year
was 0.0. The lowest rate in 2011 was registered in Las Tunas
province with
3.5, while six other provinces ended the year with figures
under the
national average. They were Artemisa (3.9), Pinar del Rio
(4.0), Holguin
(4.0), Havana (4.3), Ciego de Avila (4.4) and Granma (4.4).
According to data offered to Granma newspaper by the Head
Office of
Statistics of the Ministry of Public Health, the number of
births reported
in 2011 increased in 5,317 compared to 2010.
The article points out that, in spite of Washington’s almost
50-year-old
economic blockade of the Caribbean nation, Cuba has the
lowest infant
mortality rate of the Americas, along with Canada.
The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of infants
under one
year old per 1,000 live births. It is often used as an
indicator of the
level of health in a country. The infant mortality rate of
the world is
49.4 according to the United Nations.
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