While Las Tunas exhibits an infant mortality rate below the national average, teenage pregnancy remains the main health problem affecting the Maternal and Infant Care Program (PAMI in Spanish) in this eastern province.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- The mortality rate of 5.6 per 1,000 live births at the end of the first semester is a result that has been consolidating because of PAMI's territorial strategy, a figure that is associated with indicators such as low birth weight and other complications associated with early pregnancy.

This was revealed during a working meeting headed by the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, who urged the top management of the sector in the province and the government authorities to address the problem in a multidisciplinary way so that the results are sustainable.

Portal Miranda took a critical look at the issue, calling to work on the causes and risks. The provincial structure has to go more to the municipality, he said, and clarified that the actions to be undertaken in each scenario have to resemble the problems of this one.

We have to make more use of the capabilities of the maternity homes and be aware that when PAMI is well, the Health System in the province is well because all the structures have to converge in it, the minister emphasized.

Viviana Gutiérrez Rodríguez, director of Health here, explained that the insurance plan for the second semester is already planned, especially at the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna General Teaching Hospital, a facility that handles more than 80 percent of the province's deliveries.

We are "entrenching" the entire service to ensure that Neonatology, Obstetrics, and Nursing are prepared for the highest birth rate of the year, a context in which the deficit of human capital in these specialties is a cause for concern, the doctor pointed out.

The Provincial Center of Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Microbiology is also strengthening the network of laboratories to carry out studies that guarantee the follow-up of the mother and the baby during the gestation period.

With a rate of 88 per 1,000 women between 15 and 18 years of age, Las Tunas is among the provinces with the highest incidence of this health problem that cuts across the family and school environment and therefore requires comprehensive attention.

The visit of the Minister of Public Health also included in his agenda an analysis of the epidemiological situation of the territory and the recovery after the heavy rains that affected the central and eastern regions of the country in previous days.

The health authorities also learned about the investment program being undertaken at the Mártires de Las Tunas pediatric hospital so that this center can have its Maternity and Infant service as soon as possible.