Infant mortality rate 'remains high in Guam'

An official has warned that Guam still has a particularly high infant mortality rate.

According to Teri Covington of the National Center for Child Death Review, about 45 children die in the country every year, the Pacific News Center reports.

This, she said, is too many and insisted that steps need to be taken to reduce this figure.

As a result, Ms Covington's organisation intends to review recent infant deaths in Guam in order to identify what factors led to these fatalities and whether any risk factors can be dealt with.

"What are the factors related to why more babies die here and why babies are born with a low birth rate and premature?" she asked.

Ms Covington added that this information will be used in an effort to reduce the infant mortality rate in Guam.

This comes after Dr Aurelio Espinola, medical examiner in Guam, insisted that parents need to be educated about fatal infections such as pneumonia that are major causes of child mortality in the country, the Marianas Variety reported.