With an infant mortality rate of 7.4 per thousand live births since January 2022, Cuba has not been able to reverse the negative trend of previous years, particularly in 2021, when the rate reached 7.6, the worst since 1996.
In a officials meeting High-level broadcast, broadcast two weeks ago by Cuban Television, Dr. Tania Margarita Cruz, Deputy Minister of Public Health, attributed this situation to the lack of “cadres and officials” involved in hospital care for mothers and children.
Since January, 72,800 live births and 539 deaths have been recorded, Cruz said. The deputy minister’s statements stand out not only because of the dramatic increase in deaths, but also because the Government points to its mismanagement as the first cause and not the usual apology, the blocking of the USA and its consequences in the sector.
Nor does it insist on responsibility for the covid-19 pandemic, although it does point out that the coronavirus had an impact on the health of pregnant women and on the functioning of the Cuban health system. However, this does not justify that in 2022 the rate has been reduced minimally compared to the previous year, when the majority of the population is already vaccinated against the virus.
The Government did blame the pandemic for the rise (5 children per 1,000) in 2019, while now it accuses “incomplete staff”
Cuba maintained a rate of less than 5 per 1,000 live infants for more than a decade. The current rise, pointed out the Vice Minister of Public Health, represents a setback of almost thirty years in which the Island had controlled infant mortality.
During the Special Period, specifically in 1996, the country registered a rate of 7.9, but the birth rate was improving so that, since 2000, there were no more than 7 deaths per 1,000. The lowest figure, 4, was achieved in 2017 and was repeated in 2018.
The Government did blame the pandemic for the rise (5 children per 1,000) in 2019, while now accusing the “incomplete staff” of each health care center.
Health personnel – ranging from doctors and nurses to caregivers and managers – are also part of the mass exodus of Cubanswho leave their workplaces and try to leave the country, despite the fact that Public Health is one of the sectors with the most legal restrictions when traveling.
Health personnel – ranging from doctors and nurses to caregivers and managers – are also part of the mass exodus of Cubans
The dire effects of migration in the health sector had been calculated at the end of 2021 by Ernesto René, a worker for 34 years of the Maternal and Child Program (Pami), who commented in the newspaper Invasive that it was necessary to “review the motivations and barriers of the personnel who work in such a sensitive area”.
The year 2022 will not represent a turning point in infant mortality, Cruz acknowledges, since the lack of personnel rules out “the necessary effectiveness in the control and inspection actions that correspond to the cadres,” and favors “violations of processes in some institutions in the country.
The provinces with the greatest personnel deficit are Pinar del Río, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Mayabeque, Villa Clara and Havana. With 13.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, Ciego de Avila It continues to have the worst results, followed by Pinar del Río (9.6), Santiago de Cuba (9.3) and Las Tunas (8.7), at the end of 2021.
The low infant mortality rate was, traditionally, one of the figures most used by the Cuban government to expose its “achievements” in public health. The deterioration of hospital facilitiesthe meager state budget dedicated to improving them (only 2% of the total) and the lack of health personnel aggravate the situation, which has been critical for years.
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