Child mortality is on the increase in crisis-ridden Zimbabwe, where at least one in 10 children will die before they reach the age of five, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Health Minister David Parirenyatwa has blamed the rising number of deaths of minors on the soaring cost of health services in the Southern African country.
According to a report by the Zimbabwe Demographic Health Survey (ZDHS), child mortality in the country has nearly doubled, rising from 59 per 1 000 live births in 1985 five years after Zimbabwe’s independence to 102 per 1 000 live births in 1999.
The under-five mortality rate has continued to rise, with 129 per 1 000 in 2004, according to United Nations Children’s Fund figures.
Parirenyatwa said public hospitals were not supposed to charge fees for treating children under the age of five or pregnant mothers who cannot pay.
Zimbabwe’s hospitals have been hard-hit by the HIV/Aids pandemic and a worsening economic crisis, which has left institutions unable to procure vital drugs and retain qualified staff.
The target is to significantly reduce mortality among under-fives from 102 to at least 34 per 1 000 by 2015 and make quality health services readily available, the health minister was quoted as saying. — Sapa-dpa