The Cuban Government reported this Tuesday that the infant mortality rate so far in 2024 is 7.4 per one thousand live births, a figure higher compared to the 7.1 in 2023.
According to the officialist website Cubadebate, Dr. Catherine Chibás Pérez, National Chief of the Maternal and Child Health Program (PAMI) of the Ministry of Public Health of the island, reported that as of July 11, there were 34,648 births registered.
That total reflects a reduction of 8,157 fewer births compared to the same period of the previous year, while the number of deaths has decreased by 82 cases, going from 340 to 258.
However, last year on this same date, the regime reported a rate of 7.9 (42,805 newborns), in other words, higher than what has been indicated in the last few hours, which represents an improvement.
Although it is worth mentioning that 2023 began with a serious hospital incident in which ten babies from the premature unit of the Diez de Octubre gynecobstetric hospital in Havana died - most of them due to mishandling of a germ that turned out to be lethal in their condition - leading to 22 officials serving sentences, according to 14ymedio.
The same digital portal stated that the infant mortality rate of 7.4 nearly doubles that of 2018. At that time, it was just 3.9 and had always been below 4.6 since 2012 until in 2019, it reached 5, which was the same in 2020. In 2022, it rose to 7.5.
Doctor Chibás Pérez emphasized that regarding maternal mortality, a decrease was recorded until the present month of July, dropping from 42.1 to 37.5 per 100,000 live births.
However, he highlighted the importance of continuing to work to further reduce these figures and "called for maintaining a coordinated and sustained effort to consolidate the progress made in improving maternal and child health in Cuba."
For years, the PAMI was one of the regime's strongholds, but the crisis in its healthcare system has impacted the statistics on infant mortality.
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