Preliminary results of the V National Survey of Maternal and Child Health (ENSMI) 2008-2009 includes decreased child mortality and improved reproductive health services, with respect to the indicators of the previous 2002 survey.
However, it also demonstrates that significant gaps remain between the health of indigenous and non-indigenous population, between urban and rural populations and the trend in chronic malnutrition has continued.
At the end of the presentation of preliminary results of the V ENSMI, at the National Palace of Culture, Dr. Pier Paolo Balladelli, representing the Pan American Health Organization PAHO / WHO Guatemala, stated the need to allocate more funds for health. "The resources must be found to invest and focus the interventions in the health sector, as the government is doing in the indigenous population, education, family planning, in the active monitoring and actions to prevent chronic and acute malnutrition. With that, we can have important progress for the country. Health is not just wellbeing, it is also economic and productive development "the OPS/OMS- representative said. He insisted that more resources must be allocated to the health and development sectors.
The ENSMI 2008-2009 reveals that infant mortality decreased from 39 to 30 deaths per thousand live births, family planning in women aged 15-49 years (childbearing age) rose from 43% to 54.1%, the use of modern contraceptive methods increased from 34% to 44.1%. In indigenous women contraceptive use increased from 23.8% to 40.2%, and the attendance of births in public health care centers increased from 42.1% to 51.2%.
However, there are still very important indicators that need improvement. The post-neonatal mortality, which only decreased from 16 to 14 per thousand live births and neonatal mortality fell from 22 to 17 deaths per thousand live births. The gap in progress for indigenous women, the rural and uneducated population, remains a serious challenge.
The report also highlights a slight decline in chronic malnutrition in children aged 3 to 59 months, from 49.3% to 43.4%, which means that Guatemala still has the highest rate of malnutrition in Central America.
The gap between indigenous and non indigenous population remains. For example, while the total fertility rate declined in the country since the ENSMI 2002, where the rate was 4.4 children per woman, the current indicator is 3.6 children per women. The gap between indigenous and non indigenous women remains, with the Total Fertility Rate of 4.5 for indigenous women and 3.1 for non indigenous women, respectively.
Also in the current use of contraceptive methods, there is a difference in prevalence, ranging from 63.3% use in non-indigenous women, compared with 40.2% of use in indigenous women.
The unmet demand of family planning is nearly double among indigenous women (29.6%) compared to non-indigenous (15.1%).
Delivery care by institutional personnel also shows an important gap, since 70% of births of non-indigenous women are provided by doctors and / or nurses, compared with a modest 29% of indigenous women.
Wayne Nielsen, director of the Agency for International Development, USAID, said that this report is an important tool for the government's decision making in the health sector, and the results of this survey show that the country can improve the health indicators. He thanked the institutions and agencies that collaborated in drawing up the document, including: PAHO / WHO, Government of Sweden, USAID, the Population Fund (UNFPA), World Bank and Universidad del Valle.
Ms. Ewa Nunes Sorensen, Director of ASDI in Guatemala, (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), spook on behalf of the international cooperation that supported the ENSMI 2008- 2009 technically and financially. She expressed the satisfaction that this valuable information is now available, but she stressed the imperative to use the information for analysis and to focus concrete actions reflected in the health budgets for those communities most in need.
Dr. Ludwig Ovalle, Minister of Health, said: "We are excited and worried at the same time, it is important to note that the more indicators are improved, more actions need to be implemented. The health issue is a matter of state. It is indisputable that the health budget must be improved. If we do not have enough resources there is little we can do to improve the services.
For his part, Guatemala's President Alvaro Colom said that these results show an improvement in health indicators: "We have to celebrate the children and mothers who did not die, but we have to worry because we can do more as a country, I have no doubt that these indicators will improve over the next two years, because we are working in the rural indigenous areas."
More information:
Coni Rose
Social Communicator PAHO / WHO Guatemala
Tel: 23322032-57096640
www.paho.org / gut
Picture: Silvia Aldana de Wit
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