Babies are at more risk of dying in England… a wealthy first world country. Why is this happening?
An analysis of these deaths’ locations has shown it is a direct effect of poverty, which has been responsible for an extra 500 deaths before the age of 1 in recent years. The findings are a warning to the whole world that we can’t take improving infant health for granted.
The rate of infant deaths in the UK is still 100 times lower than it was before vaccinations, clean water, and antibiotics, but four successive annual rises can’t be ignored and dismissed. The University of Liverpool’s Professor David Taylor-Robinson sought the causes and found it is all about poverty.
It’s no surprise that the middle and upper class are expected to live longer than the poor, but between 2014 and 2017 an extra 572 babies died in the UK beyond the numbers predicted by the previous trend, almost all in the poorest 20 percent of areas.
“Although increasing poverty over this period (despite it being one of economic growth) is a simple explanation, Taylor-Robinson shows this only explains a third of the extra deaths. Another 400 were concentrated in the poorest 20 percent of councils, but couldn’t be related to changing economic circumstances. Instead, for reasons that are not yet clear, pre-existing income inequality appears to be producing a greater loss of life.”
