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Uruguay Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy
The infant mortality rate was 48.6 per 1,000 live
births in
1975. In the first half of the 1980s, it fell to 37.6 per
1,000--
low by Latin American standards but still almost twice the
rate
of Chile and Costa Rica. In the second half of the decade,
however, infant mortality began to decline to levels close
to
those of the latter two countries: in 1986 it was 27.7; in
1987,
23.8; in 1988, 20.3; and in 1990, 22. The increasing share
of
government spending devoted to infant health care and
nutrition
programs appeared to have been one reason for this sharp
improvement.
The average life expectancy at birth in 1990 was
seventy
years for men and seventy-six years for women, only
slightly
behind Chile, Costa Rica, and Argentina. The mortality
rate
remained just below 10 per 1,000 population in the 1980s.
The
leading causes of death in 1985 included circulatory
disease
(40.2 percent), tumors (22.6 percent), trauma (4.1
percent),
respiratory disorders and infections (3.8 percent),
perinatal
complications (2.4 percent), infectious diseases and
parasites
(2.4 percent), suicide (1.0 percent), and cirrhosis of the
liver
(0.9 percent).
In the late 1980s, Uruguay did not remain exempt from
the
worldwide epidemics of acquired immune deficiency syndrome
(AIDS)
and drug addiction among youth. Although homosexuals have
been
able to lead a relatively safe existence in Montevideo
without
fear of official persecution since the return of democracy
in
1985, AIDS has become a greater concern. According to the
Ministry of Public Health, by the end of June 1990 there
had been
129 cases of AIDS in Uruguay since 1983, when it was first
detected. Of those cases, 100 were from Montevideo and 29
from
the rest of the country. Fifty-nine of the cases were
contracted
inside Uruguay, whereas seventy of the victims caught the
virus
outside the country. One hundred and seventeen of the
cases were
men; twelve were women. An additional 627 individuals were
found
to be carrying the virus, without having yet shown
symptoms of
the disease. In the 1983-89 period, sixty-five people were
known
to have died of complications resulting from the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
In 1989 Uruguay still enjoyed the image of a "clean"
country
insofar as drugs were concerned. In response to some
significant
negative signs, however, the government formed the
National Board
for the Control of Drug Trafficking and Narcotics Abuse in
January 1988. The board included representatives from the
office
of the president and the ministries of public health,
education
and culture, and interior. It found that drug addiction
grew
continuously in Uruguay in 1988. The number of adult drug
addicts
had more than doubled from 321 in 1983 to 697 in 1987; the
number
of children addicted to drugs had quintupled from 62 in
1983 to
292 in 1987. According to the Ministry of Public Health,
the drug
consumer was predominantly single, with good family
relations,
and the majority had attended secondary school; half of
the total
were employed. The most commonly abused drug was
marijuana,
followed by amphetamines and industrial-use inhalants;
cocaine
and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) were also included on
the
list, but to a lesser extent.
Data as of December 1990
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