UNICEF’s 2003 Social Monitor paints an alarming picture of health in the 8 countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgysztan and Turkmenistan). A special section looks at the real infant mortality rates which are much higher than official figures. Actual infant death rates in these countries are 5 times greater than in the rest of Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS and 12 times greater than in Western industrial countries. Most of the infant deaths are preventable. Many are caused by combinations of poverty, poor maternal health and nutrition, infection, and poor medical care.
Large portions of the populations in the Caucasus and Central Asia are experiencing persistent poverty, which most directly manifests itself through inadequate nutrition among mothers and infants.
The report calls for countries to undertake three measures: adopt and implement the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of live birth, improve the training of medical staff and the management of health care, and provide incentives for parents to promptly register the births of their children.
