Turkey sees drastic drop in infant mortality rate

IZMIR

Turkey’s infant mortality rate has dropped steadily since early 2000s through effective measures, the country’s deputy health minister said on Friday.

Speaking at a conference in the western Izmir province, Emine Alp Mese said improvements in health services have drastically reduced the risk of infant mortality.

She added that around 31 of every 1,000 infants under the age of 1 died in Turkey in 2002, but the number was brought down to just nine by 2018.

“High-caliber health services have dramatically changed the infant mortality rate in Turkey. The figures of 2019 are yet to be announced, but our data suggests the number of deaths per 1,000 infants will be less than nine,” Mese said.

* Writing by Ali Murat Alhas in Ankara.