KIGALI, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda has significantly reduced its child mortality rates, Health Minister Diane Gashumba said here Thursday.

Gashumba said at a press conference that last decade witnessed a sharp decline in child mortality in the country, adding that the infant mortality (referring to the death of children under the age of one year) in the country dropped from 86 live deaths per 1,000 births in 2005 to 32 per 1,000 in the period of January 2014 to December 2015.

During the same period, mortality for children under the age of five has sharply declined from 152 to 50 deaths per 1,000 live births, she said.

The minister attributed the decline to the fact that 91 percent of deliveries currently take place in hospitals because of the improvement of health facilities and services.

In addition, the poor and other vulnerable groups now have access to community health insurance that covers 90 percent of Rwanda's about 12 million people.