Paraguay's Hopes of Meeting Millenium Goals Slipping Away

from IPS

ASUNCION, Oct 4 (IPS) - In spite of official claims to the contrary, it is becoming less and less likely that Paraguay will meet the health goals the United Nations member countries committed themselves to achieve by 2015, experts say.

A study published by Dr. Antonio Arbo, head of paediatrics at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Asunción, indicates that far from showing progress, health indices have worsened in recent years.

The report places Paraguay among the five countries with the highest child mortality rates in the Americas. In Paraguay, for every 1,000 live births, 25 children die before reaching their fifth birthday.

This figure has not varied much in the past 12 years, Arbo said. "In 1995 it was 30 children per 1,000, and now it remains at between 25 and 30 children per 1,000," he told IPS.

Other countries in the region with high child mortality rates are Haiti, with 60 deaths of children under five per 1,000 live births, Bolivia with 55 per 1,000, and Guyana and Guatemala.

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