Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Oaxaca (Agenzia Fides) - According to the latest World Health Organization estimates the main causes of infant death each year are due to infections and accidents. The leading cause among children included in the age group ranging from 5 to 14 years, called by WHO scolastic mortality, is caused by road accidents. While the death of children between 1 and 5 years of age is defined pre-scolastic death. Children from one to four die mainly for infectious intestinal disease. In the city of Oaxaca in 2011, 1500 children between 0 and 14 years of age died, here as elsewhere in the country, intestinal infectious diseases are among the top 20 causes of general mortality and affects mostly infants, preschoolers, patients with immunosuppression from cancer or HIV, and people with low immunity system.
The most vulnerable group is the one that includes small children and elderly people who fall ill for organic and psychological reasons, but mainly due to bacteria, viruses or parasites that enter the body through contaminated food and water. Among the other causes of death, according to the latest report from the National Institute of Statistics and Demography of Mexico, there is septicemia, one of the leading causes among the population in their school age, especially among girls. In the Mexican city the second highest infant mortality rate in the country is registered with 17.3 deaths per thousand live births, exceeded only by the city of Guerrero, where an average of 19.3 children per thousand live births die. Still, the infant mortality rate, 16 per thousand live births, is similar to that of African, Asian and American countries: Zimbabwe 59, Kenya 65, Sudan 64, Tanzania 64, Cambodia 62, Tajikistan 56, Haiti 63. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 04/11/2011)
