Ukrainian doctor: the country's birth rate is decreasing along with infant mortality
Despite the difficult situation in the country, medicine has so far managed to maintain the quality of service at a normal level.
This was stated at a press conference in Kyiv by Tatyana Znamenskaya, professor, doctor of medical sciences, deputy director for perinatal medicine of the Institute of Obstetrics, Pediatrics and Gynecology of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, president of the Association of Neonatologists of Ukraine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
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“The birth rate is falling, getting lower every year. If in 2015 about 400 thousand people were born on the territory of Ukraine, today – about 379 thousand. And against the backdrop of the fact that in Ukraine there is a very large economic dependence of the medical industry, our indicators are holding up. The infant mortality rate fell from 9,7 to 9,5. this is not much, but we say that we keep the indicators at a normal level. The quality of medical care has not deteriorated; in some regions, on the contrary, it has improved,” she said.
According to Znamenskaya, infant mortality is largely due to poor maternal health.
“The total number of premature babies remained at the same level as in 2015 – 23 thousand. In the category of premature babies, a large percentage of infant mortality remains. This problem is not related to the quality of service, it is the health of the population. Premature babies are children born to mothers with some kind of problems,” says Tatyana Znamenskaya.
At the same time, due to poor financing of medicine and the resulting outflow of personnel, the country risks being left without doctors, she warns.
“We do everything. But in order for us to do better and better, we need government support. It is expressed in ensuring normal financial support for all institutions. We need to think about how we will educate young people - students are leaving for European countries. We must stop this disgrace, because soon we will not have medicine, soon we will not have young people to take our places,” the doctor warns.
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