Reproductive Health

Institute for War and Peace Reporting
(1 page, 2 par.)

Uzbekistan's infant mortality rate has more than doubled in some rural areas in the last five years.

Ziyoda Juraeva, director of the only maternity hospital in the southern Kashkadarya oblast, told IWPR that 15 per cent of babies are either stillborn or die in a matter of days - twice the figure recorded in 1997.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
(Page 1, par. 5-6)

Infant mortality remains much higher than in the more developed countries, at 72.13 per 1,000 live births compared to about 5 per 1,000 in the European Union.

U.N. Integrated Regional Information Network
(page 1, par. 3 )

...the infant mortality rates for the country remain high. According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey carried out by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in 2000, some 52 children out of 1,000 live births die before the age of one year. The rate is even higher in children below the age of five, with 69 children out of 1,000 dying between one and five years...

[par.7] Gulnara Karakuziwa, chief paediatrician at Kibraj hospital maintained that the hospital even lacked necessary diagnostic equipment such as ultrasound machines. "It is difficult to detect some diseases without proper equipment," she told IRIN.

In the mid-1990s, official data estimated the level of infant mortality in parts of Karakalpakstan at 110 per 1,000 live births; unofficial estimates put the level at twice that figure. In 1992 the national maternal mortality rate was 65.3 per 100,000 live births, with considerably higher rates in some regions.

NationMaster.com

Infant mortality rate: 71.72 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.) [46th of 224] ...

Maternal mortality: 21 per 100,000 [103th of 139]

Uzland.uz
(Page 1, par. 5)

The republic's doctors blame these appalling statistics on the poor health of mothers nationwide, along with the low standard of equipment and sanitation in maternity wards.