Yemen’s child mortality rate drops [Archives:2008/1201/Front Page]

Mahmoud Assamiee
SANA'A, Oct. 21 ) The mortality rate for children under five years old in Yemen decreased from 102 to 78 per 1000 cases during the seven years up to 2006, according to results of a survey by the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) released on Sunday.

The MICS results, announced at a workshop held at the Ministry of Public Health and Population, also reveal that the mortality rate among newborns has dropped to 37 per 1000 in comparison to 69 per 1000 during the five years before the survey. Fifty percent of newborn mortality in Yemen occurs during the first month of age.

The study, which was carried out by the Ministry of Public Health and Population's Information and Research Department with support from the United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Pan-Arab Project for Family Health in 2006, showed that 68 percent of Yemeni children attend school at the appropriate age.

Conducted upon directions of the World Health Organization (WHO) toward achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals, the study indicated that 28 percent of married women use contraceptives or birth-control and 47 percent of women receive health care during pregnancy, but only 24 of them deliver at health centers.

The results show that the fertility rate in Yemen is 5, 2 deliveries to every woman. They show that the fertility rate in rural areas is higher than in urban areas, with six and four deliveries average in these areas respectively.

The survey also reveals that 59 percent of Yemenis use improved water resources -74 percent in urban areas and 52 percent in rural areas- and that 52 percent of Yemenis live in houses with improved sanitation facilities while 31 percent lack this basic service.

“The survey has significant importance in the short term and long term planning process