Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


Thanks to improvements made in the health services provided to patients in Peru's rural regions, the infant mortality rate in the country has decreased 50 percent.

According to a report presented to the Ministry for Women and Social Development by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the infant mortality rate was registered at 21 deaths (of children less than 1 year old) per thousand live births.

Peru's infant mortality rate had been as high as 59 in previous years.

The decrease in deaths for infants born in Peru was reported between 1996 and 2006, ranking Peru 99 in the list of countries by infant mortality rate.

The country ranked the highest is Sierre Leone, with 160 deaths per thousand live births, while the lowest ranked was Singapore (#222) with 2 deaths per thousand live births.

The report also shows that 91 percent of Peru's pregnant women went to at least one medical check up during their pregnancy.

It was reported that in 1996 only 67 percent of the Andean country's pregnant women had seen a doctor during their pregnancy.

It was also reported that the number of women that had given birth in the presence of a doctor had risen from 56 to 71 percent.