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Birmingham sets up infant mortality taskforce after report finds babies die at twice the national rate

Birmingham  - Getty/Charles Bowman / Design Pics
Birmingham - Getty/Charles Bowman / Design Pics

A taskforce specialising in infant mortality is being set up in Birmingham after a damning report found that deaths of newborns is twice the national average.

A report put together by Birmingham Council's Health and Social Care Scrutiny Committee found that those from a Pakistani background are disproportionately affected.

It found that 188 Asian babies were stillborn compared to just one in every 295 babies of white ethnicity.

A fifth of all infant deaths are believed to be due to abnormalities at birth as a result of marriage between relatives - second cousins or closer - which is a common practice in some Asian communities.

Social deprivation due to low income is also thought to be a contributing factor.

Rob Pocock, Chair of the Committee told the Guardian that they had: “sought not to exaggerate this issue but we have also not ignored it.

“It is part and parcel of the range of complex factors that we face in attempting to deal with the problems of infant mortality.”

Shabana Qureshi, Wellbeing Manager at Ashiana Community Project said: “In terms of the scientific rationale as to why intermarriage is such a risk, I think there’s some awareness but it’s limited.”

The rate of deaths in newborn babies in Birmingham is seven in every 1,000 - almost double the 3.9 for every thousand in England overall.

The taskforce aims to cut newborn deaths in half by 2025.

Josie Anderson, the Policy, Research and campaigns manager at Bliss - a leading UK charity for babies born premature said: “Really, more work does need to be done to understand why there is such a significant and frankly unacceptable variation among different communities.

“Research has shown women living in the most deprived areas had an 80 per cent higher risk of stillbirth and neonatal deaths compared to women living in the least deprived areas.

“And of course there is quite a lot of intersection between women living in deprived areas and also ethnicity as well.”

Nationally, neonatal deaths in those of Asian ethnicity is 60 per cent higher than those of white ethnicity and for those of black heritage, the figures are 45 per cent higher.

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