Cyprus - Health

As of 2002, the birth rate was estimated at 12.9 per 1,000 people. There were 1,199 doctors, 96 pharmacists, and 428 dentists in 1990. In the mid-1990s there were six hospital beds per 1,000 people in the Republic. In 1995 there were 0.6 dentists and 1 pharmacist per 1,000 people. As of 1996, there were 2.5 physicians and 4.5 nurses per 1,000 people. There are both public and private medical facilities, including about 50 rural health centers. The island has a low incidence of infectious diseases, but hydatid disease (echinococcosis) is endemic. Malaria has been eradicated and thalassaemia, which affected 15% of the population in 1960, has been eliminated. As of 1999, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS was estimated at 400 and deaths from AIDS that year were estimated at 160. The fertility rate in 1999 was two children per mother. The infant mortality rate was estimated at 7.7 per 1,000 live births in 1999 and the average life expectancy was 77 years. In the same year, the general mortality rate was 7.4 per 1,000 inhabitants. In 1994, 83% of children were vaccinated against measles. In 1990, 95% of the population had access to health care services and 100% had access to safe water.