Brazil’s infant mortality rates drop
Reported May 20, 2011
The rates of infant mortality have dropped in Brazil, bringing the country closer to achieving its United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals.
Health minister Jose Gomes Temporao said, if the number of deaths “stays [on] its present course”, the South American nation will actually meet the goal by 2012, three years before the UN target date.
According to a government report, infant mortality fell by 58 per cent between 1990 and 2008 in Brazil.
This has put the figure at 22.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births, which it hopes will drop to 17.8 deaths over the next three years.
As well as this, there was also a reduction of 75 per cent in the number of infants under one who died between 1990 and 2008, the report revealed.
Mr Temporao added: “One negative aspect is the increase in the proportion of births by caesarean section, which have reached 47 per cent.”
In Brazil, the maternal mortality ratio between 2003 and 2008 was 75 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to data from children’s charity Unicef.
Credits: http://www.figo.org/news/brazils-infant-mortality-rates-drop-003125