The infant mortality rate has not been able to recover in Cuba and barely dropped one tenth with compared to last year, when one of the worst data in recent decades was recorded, with 7.6 deaths per thousand alive. This year, the rate stays at 7.5more than two and a half points above the 2020 figure, which was 4.9.
Although the Island continues with positive indicators in the regional context, it is increasingly moving away from the positions of the rich countries with which it liked to compare itself, being a good distance from the rates of 2 or 3 per thousand in most of Europe. .
The data was released this Monday and leaves some Cuban provinces with discouraging numbers. The worst, Mayabeque, with 12.2. They are followed by Santiago de Cuba (9.9), Guantánamo (9.7), Havana (9.5) and Camagüey (9.1). In the middle zone are Villa Clara (7.3), Las Tunas (7), Granma (6.6) and Ciego de Ávila (6.2). The ones that can show the best data are Cienfuegos (4.3), Holguín (4.5), Sancti Spíritus (4.7), Matanzas (5), Artemisa (5.4) and Pinar del Río (5.9). Isla de la Juventud, the province with the lowest number of births (in 2021 there were 789, compared to 3,542 in Ciego de Ávila, the next with the lowest fertility), remains with 2.6.
The improvement is seen, on the other hand, in the data on maternal mortality, which last year was devastating. In 2021, 175 pregnant women died, leaving the rate at an alarming 176.6 per 100,000 live births. The increase compared to the previous year was alarming, since 40 died then, leaving a percentage increase of 341.5%. This year, on the other hand, it has dropped to 39, a total of 40.9 per 100,000 live births.
According to data from the Ministry of Public Health, the incidence of covid-19 has also dropped very significantly since vaccination with Abdala began on July 29, 2021. The last death of a pregnant woman with covid occurred in October 2021. and the infections detected were 9,874. The authorities attributed the bad maternal mortality data last year to covid-19 and the same could be attributed to the recovery.
There are few official responses to analyze the infant mortality data, which hardly changes, although from outside it is stated that the neglect of the Maternal and Child Care Programs is one of the causes
On the other hand, there are few official responses to analyze the infant mortality data, which is barely moving, although it has been stated on several occasions from outside that the neglect of the Maternal and Child Care Programs (Pami) is behind the most plausible causes. . The project has fewer funds, like almost everything else on the Island, and the professionals are fewer every day, since the abandonment of the profession is massive, in some cases to leave the country and in others to dedicate themselves to another sector that is more lucrative and less overloaded with work and demands.
Noemí Causa Palma, national head of Pami, said, according to the official note, that “measures have been implemented to improve the family doctor and nurse program and the preparation of the development plan for the Obstetrics and Gynecology specialties, Neonatology, Paediatrics, Pediatric Intensive Care, Pediatric Surgery and Comprehensive General Medicine”, although neither this nor the other efforts that according to the authorities were made to improve the situation seem to have contributed much.
Another indicator that hardly moves is that of teenage pregnancies, which went from 18% in 2021 to 17.8% in 2022, not much if one takes into account that campaigns have been carried out to put an end to this problem.
The only data that gives the Ministry of Public Health a breather is that of infant mortality due to congenital defects. The rate is 0.96 per thousand live births and goes from being the second to the fourth cause of deaths in children under one year of age. Ultrasound screenings are high, with responses exceeding 90%, reaching 99% in second and third trimester ultrasounds.
After all these data there is another that continues to reveal the demographic debacle of the Island. In 2022, 95,402 Cubans were born, 3,694 less than the previous year. The decline is a logical consequence of the massive Cuban emigration, which occurs especially among young people and the aging of the population continues unstoppable. Although the census carried out for the year that has just ended has not yet been revealed, catastrophic numbers are expected.
Finally, the note reviews the assisted reproduction program. In 2022, 15,679 infertile couples were evaluated, slightly more than last year, however only 5,912 pregnancies were obtained, compared to 6,199 the previous year. “This decrease is due to the fact that high-tech pregnancies were not achieved in the territorial centers, a result that was achieved in 2021 with the development of 316.” On the other hand, in the provincial services the data was better and went from 1,819 pregnancies the previous year to 2,113 this 2022.
“The instability of some medications influenced the decrease in pregnancies conceived from municipal consultations, where 3,799 were gestated against 3,998 in 2021,” the note added.
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