Dave Garland wrote (about infant mortality in Cuba):
It's true, but the US has far more heroic interventions among extremely
> low birth weight and extremely premature infants than Cuba. Which, of
> course, are far more likely to die than normal births. I suspect that
> in Cuba, those get counted as miscarriages, not infants.
Is this just a guess, or do you have reason to suspect that the medical definition of "birth" is different in Cuba? Or perhaps it's the definition of "death"? It seems to me, considering an equal number of premature births, that heroic intervention should produce a benefit in the statistics. If it doesn't, then why do it? Or is there a higher percentage of premature births in the U.S.?
I know that Cuba has more doctors per capita than (I believe) any country in the hemisphere, and a major commitment to disease prevention and public health. Maybe it just pays off. Wouldn't that be a shock.