23:55, 4 November 2004

Infant mortality increases in Chechnya

Infant mortality has considerably increased in the Chechen Republic recently, and the birth of children with congenital pathological defects has also been registered, a source in the Chechen Health Ministry told the Caucasian Knot correspondent. The medic believes that the grave ecological situation in Chechnya as well as stress situations in which residents of the republic regularly are contributes to the increase in the infant mortality, sickness rate, and birth of physically unhealthy children.

"Last year, over one thousand out of more than three thousand newborns had congenital diseases. They're cardiovascular system diseases and other deviations both in children's physical and psychological state. First of all it's connected with the fact that women, mothers of newborns, like other people in the republic, are under stress. Constant fear, anxiety for the lives of relatives and close ones, uncertainty about the future, and enduring uneasiness are passed on from a mother to a child," the doctor said.

Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent

Source: Caucasian Knot