Life expectancy and infant mortality in Latin America

Life expectancy and infant mortality in Latin America vary extremely on the national level as for example from 20 per thousand and less in Cuba and Chile up to 100 per thousand and more in Haiti and Bolivia. The range of these rates is even greater considering the regional level within the countries. Case studies from Costa Rica and Chile do not only show the contrast between rural and urban areas, but also give an example how regional differences can be diminished in the course of a rapid mortality decline. The development of primary and secondary health care, especially when applied to rural and marginal urban population turned out to be the most important factor for this reduction. In Costa Rica 75% of the decrease of infant mortality can be attributed to these measures. In addition to reforms in the public health system improvements of sanitary conditions have been proven to be very efficient in the fight against infant mortality in Chile. But the level of mortality remains relatively high in those countries where endogenous factors of mortality decline have not been added to the exogenous ones to a great extent. A close connection between social stratification and level of mortality is quite evident in Brazil, where difficult living conditions in rural areas as well as in a big part of the cities prevent a reduction of mortality rates.