Cuba has reached a survival rate of 99.4 % of children at the age of five,
and is placed along Canada among the leading nations in the Americas with
six per 1,000 live births, according to an article published by Granma
newspaper, in a happy coincidence on Epiphany Day.  

The 2011 World Childhood State publication by UNICEF says the United
States has an 8 percent rate, Chile 9, Costa Rica 11, Uruguay 13,
Argentina 14, Mexico and El Salvador 17, Venezuela 18, Colombia 19, Brazil
and Peru 21, Panama and Paraguay 23, Ecuador 24, Nicaragua 26, Honduras
30, Dominican Republic 32, Guatemala 40 and Haiti 87.

An analysis of the global performance of the mortality rate of children
under five shows that the TMM5 (the international acronym for the
indicator) at a world level is  60 percent, in Africa it is 118, while in
Latin American and the Caribbean the rate falls down to 23.

Experts recognize that the millions of deaths of children under five that
occur in the poorest nations are due to easily preventable causes such as
diarrheal and respiratory diseases, measles and malaria; specialists agree
that with the implementation of low-cost preventive measures most of those
deceases can be avoided.

In contrast, the children who pass before reaching the age of five in
developed nations are usually victims of accidents.

In Cuba, the main death causes of children in early ages are congenital
malformations, chromosomal deformities and anomalies, malignant tumors and
accidents.

Medical Doctor Rosabel Cuellar Alvarez, specialist of the Children-Mother
Department of the Public Health Ministry, mentioned as an important factor
for parents to maintain close contact with childcare specialists during
the whole development and growing-up stage of their children so that
health problems can be early identified, diagnosed and treated.