Mortality rate declines in Azerbaijan: Deputy health minister
By Jamila Babayeva
The mortality rate has declined in Azerbaijan, Deputy Health Minister Elsever Agayev said in an interview with the ruling New Azerbaijan Party's website.
Agayev said the fertility rate has increased from 13.9 parts per million (ppm) to 18.6 ppm, and the mortality rate has decreased from 6.0 ppm to 5.9 ppm over the past 10 years.
He further said the natural population increase rose from 7.9 ppm to 12.7 ppm, which is the highest among European countries.
Notable progress has achieved in the treatment of malignant tumors, Agayev furthermore said. "Ensuring cancer patients of the medicaments has improved. If for cancer patients' chemotherapy drugs were purchased 14 items in 2006, this figure had risen to 45 in 2012, and up to 58 items in 2013".
Thanks to measures which have been taken during the past 10 years, mortality among cancer patients has remained stable in Azerbaijan, he added.
Azerbaijan has a population of more than 9 million people.