Infant Mortality
By In spite of the fact that he’s often such a goddamn wanker, Nick Kristof manages the occasional home run.
Here’s a wrenching fact: If the U.S. had an infant mortality rate as good as Cuba’s, we would save an additional 2,212 American babies a year.
Yes, Cuba’s. Babies are less likely to survive in America, with a health care system that we think is the best in the world, than in impoverished and autocratic Cuba. According to the latest C.I.A. World Factbook, Cuba is one of 41 countries that have better infant mortality rates than the U.S.
Even more troubling, the rate in the U.S. has worsened recently.
In every year since 1958, America’s infant mortality rate improved, or at least held steady. But in 2002, it got worse: 7 babies died for each thousand live births, while that rate was 6.8 deaths the year before.
Who knows? Maybe what defines a good health system is less spectacular success in treating extraordinarily rare diseases and complex surgery, and more in providing a basic level of preventative care to the vast bulk of the population. If someone can come up with a good excuse for the United States to have an infant mortality rate lower than that of Cuba, I’d like to hear it.