Kayıhan Pala, a lawmaker from Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has drawn attention to a visible uptick seen in child mortality in dozens of Turkish provinces in 2023, the Artı Gerçek news website reported on Tuesday.
In a written parliamentary question addressed to Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu, Pala highlighted significant increases in child mortality observed in 51 provinces, asking whether the ministry had an action plan aimed at tackling the issue.
Pala cited data from TurkStat, the country’s governmental statistics agency, which put deaths among children aged 5 and younger at 1.45 percent of all children in that age group in 2023, up from 1.12 percent the previous year.
Of the 51 provinces cited in the opposition MP’s question, 11 were affected by last year’s devastating earthquakes, which led to the destruction of tens of thousands of buildings including homes and hospitals.
The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes affected 11 provinces in the country’s south and southeast on February 6, 2023, killing close to 60,000 people in Turkey and parts of Syria and leaving millions homeless.
Yet, the rise in child mortality in the remaining 40 provinces which were not directly hit by the earthquakes is a cause for concern, according to Pala, who requested that the health minister detail the causes of the rising trend and explain whether the ministry had an action plan to counter it.