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Health at a Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean 2020

image of Health at a Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean 2020

Health at a Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean 2020 presents key indicators on health and health systems in 33 Latin America and the Caribbean countries. This first Health at a Glance publication to cover the Latin America and the Caribbean region was prepared jointly by OECD and the World Bank. Analysis is based on the latest comparable data across almost 100 indicators including equity, health status, determinants of health, health care resources and utilisation, health expenditure and financing, and quality of care. The editorial discusses the main challenges for the region brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as managing the outbreak as well as mobilising adequate resources and using them efficiently to ensure an effective response to the epidemic. An initial chapter summarises the comparative performance of countries before the crisis, followed by a special chapter about addressing wasteful health spending that is either ineffective or does not lead to improvement in health outcomes so that to direct saved resources where they are urgently needed.

English Also available in: Spanish

Infant mortality

Infant mortality, deaths in children aged less than one year, reflects the effect of economic, social and environmental conditions on the health of mothers and infants, as well as the effectiveness of health systems. Factors such as the education of the mother, quality of antenatal and childbirth care, preterm birth and birth weight, immediate new-born care and infant feeding practices are important determinants of infant mortality (see sections “Preterm birth and low birthweight” and “Pregnancy and birth” in Chapter 4). Diarrhoea, pneumonia, infection and undernutrition continue to be among the leading causes of death in both mothers and infants see sections “Child malnutrition (including undernutrition and overweight)” and “Overweight or obese adults” in Chapter 4]. In the LAC region, around one third of the deaths in the first year of life occur during the neonatal period (i.e. during the first four weeks of life or days 0‑27) (Black et al., 2016[3]).

English Also available in: Spanish

Graphs

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