SA’s infant mortality rate at its lowest in nearly 20 years

SA’s infant mortality rate is at its lowest in almost two decades‚ having fallen by 32% between 2002 and 2017. This is according to the SA Survey 2018 published by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR).

The institute said this improvement aligned with a sharp increase in the rate of antenatal first visits by pregnant women. Analyst Tawanda Makombo said the drop in the infant mortality rate — which measures the deaths of infants under 12 months per 1,000 live births in a year — coincided with a 96% improvement in the rate of antenatal first visits since 2006. ….more