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UN representative: â€œInfant mortality rate in Azerbaijan is higher 2-3 times than the indicators of the Ministry of Healthâ€

05 July 2012 11:46 (UTC +04:00)

According to him, this difference in the indicators on infant mortality is related to methods of calculation: â€œApproach determined by the UN for infant mortality is different from the approach of the Ministry of Health.â€

The UNICEF representative said that actually such situation exists in all former Soviet republics. The reason of this is that all former Soviet republics use the approach on the live birth criteria. Azerbaijan has not adopted international live birth criteria yet: â€œThatâ€™s why the official statistics on mortality rate are lower and these indicators are more different than the UN indicators.â€

The UNICEF tries that Azerbaijan joins to the international live birth criteria within the cooperation between the UNICEF and Ministry of Health. The UN intends to help the Azerbaijani side in the preparation of more accurate methodology for solving of this problem: â€œWe and other international organizations invited high-level experts in statistic sphere to Azerbaijan and they will conduct research and determine joint approach methods in this sphere.â€

The UN representative said that infant mortality rate under 5 years decreased 2 times in Azerbaijan: â€œMy concern is not the level of these indicators. I am pleased that, according to these indicators, there is a tendency to reduce.â€

Hereward also said that the UN statistics are based on researches carried out by the UN: â€œIt must be considered that the UNICEF has not carried out research since 2006. If research was carried out last years, it would be possible to observe a significant reduction in these indicators.â€

â€œIt is the next false and baseless statement of Mark Hereward,â€ said employee of the press service of the Ministry of Health Safaye Mammadova while commenting on the opinions of head of the UNICEF office in Azerbaijan Mark Hereward about the infant mortality rate in Azerbaijan. She said that the calculations of the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan coincide with the calculations of many international organizations.