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Infant mortality in Russia reaches historic low — Health Minister

The infant mortality rate in Russia has decreased by 7% year-on-year

TASS, November 28. The infant mortality rate in Russia has decreased by 7% year-on-year, reaching another historic low, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.

"According to Federal Service for State Statistics' operational data, the infant mortality rate has decreased by 7% compared to last year and has reached another historical low - it is 4 per thousand," he said at a videoconference with Russian President Vladimir Putin dedicated to the opening of medical facilities in the regions.

Murashko added that the mortality rate among children under the age of 18 has also decreased by 4%.

Speaking about preventive medicine, Murashko noted that doctors examined almost 80% of children in the first 10 months of 2023. He assured Putin that the quotas set for the current year would be fulfilled.

"On your instructions, we have carried out tremendous work - preventive examinations of children with new technologies, using special mobile clinics. Having examined the children, we did not stop there. We, of course, took [them] under dispensary observation - these are 115,000 children. We also provided inpatient treatment for 5,000 children, and 120 of the most difficult children received <...> high-tech assistance in federal clinics," the minister said.