Revealed: Infant death rate five times worse in Scotland’s poorest areas, By John Ferguson, February 1, 2012, Daily Record: “Babies from Scotland’s poorest neighbourhoods are almost five times more likely than those from the richest to die before they are one. The shocking statistic was revealed yesterday in an NHS report that analysed the postcodes of newborns for the first time. Of 59,082 births in Scotland in 2010, 15,361 mums lived in the most deprived fifth of postcode areas, while 9453 were from the most affluent. In the poorest areas, 85 children died before reaching one. In the best areas there were 11 deaths…”
Tag: Mortality rate
Infant Mortality Rates
Tackling infant mortality rates among blacks, By Timothy Williams, October 14, 2011, New York Times: “Amanda Ralph is the kind of woman whose babies are prone to die. She is young and poor and dropped out of school after the ninth grade. But there is also an undeniable link between Ms. Ralph’s race – she is black – and whether her baby will survive: nationally, black babies are more than twice as likely as white babies to die before the age of 1. Here in Pittsburgh, the rate is five times. So, seven months into her first pregnancy, Ms. Ralph, 20, is lying on a couch at home as a nurse from a federally financed program listens to the heartbeat of her fetus. The unusual attention Ms. Ralph is receiving is one of myriad efforts being made nationwide to reduce the tens of thousands of deaths each year of infants before age 1. But health officials say it is frequently disheartening work, as a combination of apathy and cuts to federal and state programs aimed at reducing infant deaths have hampered progress, with dozens of big cities and rural areas reporting rising rates…”
UN Millennium Development Goals
- Poor countries lead in mother, child spending, Associated Press, September 20, 2011, La Crosse Tribune: “Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal and some of the world’s other poorest countries delivered not only money but new services in the year since U.N. member states pledged more than $40 billion to save the lives of mothers and children, a new study of the spending said Tuesday. The spending report was released at a high-level event chaired by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has made raising money for the health of mothers and their children a special project. Ban told a gathering at U.N. headquarters that when he was born in 1944 in South Korea, child mortality was so prevalent that families often waited months to register births to make certain babies would survive…”
- WHO report hails efforts to curb maternal deaths, By Sarah Boseley, September 19, 2011, The Guardian: “One year on from a major UN meeting to tackle the deaths of women and babies in childbirth, 44 of the world’s poorest countries have made major commitments to the cause, totalling nearly $11bn (£7bn), according to a progress report. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called the meeting a year ago because of sluggish progress towards two of the UN millennium development goals – reducing maternal and child mortality. More than $40bn was pledged for a range of strategies from donor governments, the private sector, NGOs and philanthropists. The one-year assessment from the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) of the World Health Organisation highlights progress in the worst-affected countries. Low-income countries made the highest number of commitments overall…”