Black babies in England three times more likely to die than white babies

Black babies in England are almost three times more likely to die than white babies after death rates surged in the last year, according to figures that have led to warnings that racism, poverty and pressure on the NHS must be tackled to prevent future fatalities.

The death rate for white infants has stayed steady at about three per 1,000 live births since 2020, but for black and black British babies it has risen from just under six to almost nine per 1,000, according to figures from the National Child Mortality Database, which gathers standardised data on the circumstances of children’s deaths. Infant death rates in the poorest neighbourhood rose to double those in the richest areas, where death rates fell.

The mortality for Asian and Asian British babies also rose, by 17%.

The annual data shows overall child mortality increased again between 2022 and 2023, with widening inequalities between rich and poor areas and white and black communities.

Most deaths of infants under one year of age were due to premature births. Karen Luyt, the programme lead for the database and a professor of neonatal medicine at Bristol University, said many black and minority ethnic women were not registering their pregnancies early enough and the “system needs to reach them in a better way”.

“There’s an element of racism and there’s a language barrier,” Luyt said. “Minority women often do not feel welcome. There’s cultural incompetence and our clinical teams do not have the skills to understand different cultures.”

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Source: The Guardian, 9 November 2023