According to the World Bank, Guyana’s infant mortality rate stands at 24.4 deaths per 1,000 live births. This is 75.5% above the average of 13.9 deaths per thousand live births recorded for the Latin America and Caribbean region.
Furthermore, Guyana’s rate is 4.5 times the 5.5 deaths per thousand births recorded in the USA. With births in Guyana estimated at about 15,000 per year, this brings the total number of infant deaths in Guyana to over 360 infants per year or one infant death per day.
As families struggle with the grief of those losses, we as a society must confront the fact that most of these deaths were avoidable.
More, In The Ring.
