Cuba achieved the lowest children's mortality rate in Latin America in 2007, with only 5.3 deaths per each one thousand born alive, outstanding figure compared with that of the developed countries.

This is the result of the solid work in the system of public health in the Caribbean island- free for the whole population- and the strict care to the pregnant women, who receive as average 17 diagnosis during their period of pregnancy.

Other reasons are that 99.9 percent of the pregnant women give birth in the hospitals, and in maternity homes, as well as the careful care to the children since their birth, when the nurses take a blood sample of the umbilical cord to determine the possible existence of endocrine-metabolic illnesses to treat them on time.

A wire from the Cuban News Agency that quotes to Granma newspaper, points out that in a programmed way the healthy boy is seen in the Consultation of Puericulture 12 times in a year. He receives a geneticist's diagnosis, and in that period he is immunized against 12 avoidable illnesses.

In Cuba there are also family planning programs, based on the woman's reproductive right to freely choose the number of children she wants to have.

(Tiempo21.cu)