NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Health Minister Dr Michael Darville said officials are seeing an alarming rise in infant mortality and deaths among children younger than 14.
He was speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday during his contribution to the budget debate.
“The data for the period 1995 to 2019 revealed that the infant mortality rate was 12.7 percent per 100,000 live births,” he said.
“Since then, the infant mortality rate excluding the year 1999, ranged from 14 percent per 1,000 live births in 1998. The data for 2018-2019 seems to suggest that the infant mortality rate was somewhere between 17.5 percent to 19.4 percent. This is alarming and as a country, we must address this as a matter of urgency.
Darville continued: “The death rate among infants and children less than 14 years proved to be on the rise as well but in this year’s budget funding is available to address these alarming statistical findings.
“My ministry in collaboration with the maternal and child health technical advisory groups will review strategies to address factors, contributing to the sustained high level of infant mortality rates in the Bahamas with an aim to achieve a level of less than 10 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Darville also reiterated that the government has secured more than 24,000 doses of the Pfizer pediatric vaccine through COVAX, an initiative to provide equitable access to vaccines for countries.
The effort to secure pediatric doses of COVID-19 vaccines began under the Minnis administration.
The Bahamas had expressed interest in the Caribbean Public Health Agency’s request from the United States for the Pfizer COVID-19 pill and pediatric doses of the vaccines.
He said as of June 13th, 347,742 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered since March 14, 2021, including first, second, extended, and booster doses.
He said the rate of vaccination uptake has declined concurrently with the rate of active COVID-19 cases.
Darville said 49.3 percent of the total population of The Bahamas has been vaccinated, a figure that rises to 51.8 percent for the eligible population.
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