Indigenous Infant Mortality in Latin America: An Expression of Human Rights Implementation Gaps.

This paper explores Infant mortality gaps between indigenous and non indigenous children in Latin America from a human rights framework. The data provided by population censuses shows that indigenous peoples suffer the greatest inequalities with a persistence of excess mortality. As most of these deaths are preventable with appropriate access to health, the over mortality became an indicator of the human rights violation. Given the persistent inequity and heterogeneity, the challenge is to develop a cross cultural approach considering cultural and geographical diversity in the frame of equity and human rights. The 2010 Census offers a great opportunity for measuring to what extent infant mortality -close to 60 per 1,000 live births in the 2000 censuses- has declined; Also it is an important moment for estimating if the equity gap between indigenous and non indigenous children has increased, decreased or maintained. It is crucial to know the patterns and tendencies to evaluate the impact of cross cultural programs and interventions developed since the 90's in most Latin American countries.