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Infant
Mortality
The evolution
of infant and infant-youth health indicators during the nineties
was overall positive. Infant mortality went from 42 deaths
per thousand live births in 1990 to 30 per thousand in 1998,
representing a 29% reduction for the 1990/98 period; under-five
mortality rate 38/1000 during the same year, reflecting a
33% reduction for the same period. On the other hand, the
under-five mortality rates are important when referring to
their habitat, being the highest rate in rural areas (47%)
compared to urban areas (36%), due to the poor living conditions
of the rural populations, which account for 70% of the poor.
The principal causes
of infant and youth mortality are prenatal affections (33%),
parasites and infectious diseases (24%) and respiratory affections
(10%). These directly reflect the living conditions of a significant
portion of the population, where 30% live below the poverty
level.
A considerable
number of deliveries are not assisted by health professionals,
considering that yet about half (45%) are conducted outside
health facilities, with greater occurrence in rural areas
and among women with lower education level. Thus the risk
of prenatal affections is greater.
The situation is
due to the fact that there’s still a great many number
of women not getting proper care during the prenatal and delivery.
The populations’ deficient conditions of access to drinking
water, to sanitary means of excreta disposal, bad housing
and the low education level only help to worsen the situation.
Considering the recent measles (1997) and polio (2000) epidemics,
the reduced immunization coverage is a negative factor that
raises concern, as is the reduced proportion of children under-four
months that are breastfed exclusively.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic began in 1986 and accelerated during the
last years, thus increasing the number of orphans and
abandoned children. Seven percent of AIDS cases are
transmitted from HIV positive
mothers to their child and this represents another potential
problem of child survival.
Due to poverty and lack of access to basic social services,
thousands of children under five years of age, nearly half of
them in their neonatal period, die every year of preventable
diseases and
 malnutrition. Complications related to pregnancy
and childbirth and maternal anaemia and malnutrition kill
hundreds of women and adolescents each year, and injure and
disable many more. Majority of the country cannot obtain safe
drinking water; thousands of children under five years of age
are malnourished; and many more lack access to adequate
sanitation.
Cabo Verde Children is determined to break the
intergenerational cycle of malnutrition and poor health by
providing a safe and healthy start in life for all children;
providing access to effective, equitable, sustained and
sustainable primary health care systems in all communities,
ensuring access to information and referral services;
providing adequate water and sanitation services; and
promoting a healthy lifestyle among children and adolescents.
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