Cuba boasts lowest infant mortality rate in LatAm

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Xinhua

Cuba boasts lowest infant mortality rate in LatAm
English.news.cn 2013-01-04 14:30:59

HAVANA, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Cuba ended 2012 with an infant mortality rate of 4.6 per thousand live births, the lowest in Latin America, the Cuban News Agency reported Thursday.

2012 marked the fifth year in a row that Cuba had kept its infant mortality rate below 5 per thousand, thanks mainly to the government's free universal health care programs, the news agency said.

According to figures from the Public Health Ministry, the country's infant mortality rate was 4.9 in 2011, 4.5 in 2010, 4.8 in 2009 and 4.7 in 2008.

~snip~
The latest infant mortality report from the United Nations Children Fund, released in September 2012, shows that Cuba leads the Western Hemisphere, followed by Canada, the United States, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay.


Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/health/2013-01/04/c_132079776.htm

[FresnoDemocrat]

1. Skeptical, to say the least.

This claim comes from the official state news agency of a dictatorship.


Those guys aren't exactly...reliable.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Then you need to break down and check other sources, like the U.N. stats

over the years. Couldn't be more appropriate.

It makes so much more sense when you actually have a grip on what you're trying to discuss.

[Judi Lynn]

3. List of countries by infant mortality rate

Wikipedia's List of countries by infant mortality rate:

This is a list of countries by infant mortality rate. Figures are from the 2011 revision of the United Nations World Population Prospects report, by five years averages,[2] and the CIA World Factbook.[3]

The infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births. This rate 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 and 42.09 according to the CIA World Factbook.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate

[center]~~~~~[/center]

Listings are ranked from the highest mortality rated countries to the lowest:
Cuba Infant mortality rate

Source: CIA World Factbook - Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of July 26, 2012

~snip~
173 United States 5.98
174 Faroe Islands 5.94
175 Guam 5.72
176 Northern Mariana Islands 5.69
177 New Caledonia 5.62
178 Hungary 5.24
179 Taiwan 5.1
180 Greece 4.92
181 French Polynesia 4.88
182 Canada 4.85
183 Cuba 4.83
184 New Zealand 4.72
185 San Marino 4.65
186 Wallis and Futuna 4.61
187 Portugal 4.6
188 United Kingdom 4.56
189 Australia 4.55
190 Liechtenstein 4.39
191 Luxembourg 4.39
192 Belgium 4.28
193 Isle of Man 4.27
194 Austria 4.26
195 Denmark 4.19
196 Slovenia 4.12
197 Korea, South 4.08
198 Israel 4.07
199 Switzerland 4.03
200 Jersey 3.94
201 Ireland 3.81
202 Andorra 3.76
203 Netherlands 3.73
204 Czech Republic 3.7
205 Malta 3.65
206 Guernsey 3.52
207 Germany 3.51
208 Norway 3.5
209 Anguilla 3.44
210 Finland 3.4
211 France 3.37
212 Spain 3.37
213 Italy 3.36
214 Iceland 3.18
215 Macau 3.17
216 Hong Kong 2.9
217 Sweden 2.74
218 Singapore 2.65
219 Bermuda 2.47
220 Japan 2.21
221 Monaco 1.8

Definition: This entry gives the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year; included is the total death rate, and deaths by sex, male and female. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.

Source: CIA World Factbook - Unless otherwise

http://www.indexmundi.com/factbook/countries

[SunSeeker]

4. Woo hoo! The U.S. almost beat out the Faroe Islands!

Thanks for the info, as depressing as it is.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

6. The CIA world factbook?

You're going to site that commie propaganda?

[Judi Lynn]

7. They made me do it.

[center] [/center]

[Tempest]

9. It's not just Cuba reporting it

It's the UN, our own NIH and the World Health Organization also came up with the same numbers.

[Ash_F]

5. Cuba has been investing in their health care system for decades.

Sow it now, reap it later. Take note America.

[dipsydoodle]

8. Yep - a ex-school friend pointed that out to me 10 years or so ago

when mentioning it was lower than the US even then.

Summary pattern here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate

Best summarised as they care about their infants.

Cuba also has a very high literacy rate : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate That had followed a purposeful campaign early sixties :

The Cuban Literacy Campaign (Spanish: Campaña Nacional de Alfabetización en Cuba) was a year-long effort to abolish illiteracy in Cuba after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.[1] It began on January 1 and ended on December 22, 1961, becoming the world's most ambitious and organized literacy campaign.[2][3]

Before 1959 the official literacy rate for Cuba was between 60-76%, with educational access in rural areas and a lack of instructors the main determining factor.[4] As a result, the Cuban government of Fidel Castro at Che Guevara's behest dubbed 1961 the "year of education", and sent "literacy brigades" out into the countryside to construct schools, train new educators, and teach the predominately illiterate Guajiros (peasants) to read and write. The campaign was "a remarkable success", and by the completion of the campaign, 707,212 adults were taught to read and write, raising the national literacy rate to 96%.[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Literacy_Campaign

[Comrade Grumpy]

10. Gee, I wish I lived in a country with universal health care.

[bemildred]

11. Just think what a wealthy country could do. nt