Increased infant mortality rate recorded between 2018 and 2021: Shimuafeni

Namibia’s Statistician-General, Alex Shimuafeni, on Tuesday announced a recorded rise in the country’s infant mortality rate between 2018 and 2021.

Shimuafeni revealed to Nampa that the infant mortality rate increased from 49 deaths per 1 000 live births in 2018 to 54 deaths per 1 000 live births in 2021 and that more than half of the infant deaths were males across the years.

“Oshana recorded the highest number of infant deaths in 2020, while in 2021, the highest was in Oshana and Omaheke. The mortality rate of children under the age of five slightly increased from 62 deaths per 1 000 live births in 2018 to 65 deaths per 1 000 live births in 2021,” he noted.

The Namibia Statistics Agency noted that holistically, most deaths were due to non-communicable diseases.

“Deaths due to communicable, maternal, perinatal, and nutritional conditions were consistently declining from 29.8 per cent in 2018 to 17 per cent in 2021. Deaths due to non-communicable diseases decreased from 37.5 per cent in 2018 to 21.5 per cent in 2021,” Shimuafeni said.

Shimuafeni further revealed that the leading causes of death between 2018 and 2021 included COVID-19, hypertensive disease, lower respiratory infections, HIV, diabetes mellitus, self-inflicted injuries, road traffic accidents, nephritis and nephrosis, endocrine disorders and diarrheal disease.

“The leading cause of death in Namibia was hypertensive disease, which was about 8.8 per cent in 2020, while COVID-19 stood at 18.6 per cent as the leading cause of death in 2021. Diarrheal diseases were ranked as the number one leading cause of death for children under five in 2020 at 11.9 per cent, while in 2021 the figure decreased to 11.3 per cent,” he said.

Shimuafeni said that the leading cause of death for the economically active group ranging between 15 and 59 years was HIV which stood at 13.5 per cent in 2020, while in 2021 COVID-19 was ranked as the leading cause of death with 15.1 per cent.

(NAMPA)
IS/HP/PS
(NAMPA)