Afghan Infant Mortality Improves

Associated Press, April 27, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan — (Excerpt)
"Improvements in women's access to medical care since the Taliban fell five years ago have led to a marked decrease in Afghanistan's infant mortality rates, with 40,000 fewer infant deaths a year, according to a new study.

Grim infant and maternal mortality rates have been regularly cited as evidence of Afghanistan's backwardness after decades of war, and of the slow progress of the internationally funded reconstruction effort.

According to the preliminary results of a Johns Hopkins University study, infant mortality has declined to about 135 per 1,000 live births in 2006, from an estimated 165 per 1,000 in 2001.

The researchers "found improvements in virtually all aspects of care in almost every province," the Public Health Ministry and World Bank said Thursday in a joint statement on the findings.

"Despite many challenges, there are clear signs of health sector recovery and progress throughout the country," said Public Health Minister Mohammad Amin Fatimi. "But there is a long way to go to provide access to basic health services for Afghans in far remote, underserved and marginalized areas across the country."

Benjamin P. Loevinsohn, a World Bank health specialist, said the survey results probably underestimated the improvement in infant mortality."