Rising Infant Mortality Rate

Published on: 20/03/2018

That latest figures on infant mortality have been released from the Office for National Statistics and demonstrate a worrying increase for the second year in a row.  Rates of both neonatal deaths and death’s within the first year after birth have increased, The rate rose from 2.6 neonatal deaths per 1,000 births in 2015 to 2.7 for every 1,000 births in 2016 and from 3.7 to 3.8 per 1,000 live births over the same period respectively.

 

MAMA Academy CEO , Heidi Eldridge, responded:

“We at MAMA Academy are extremely saddened to see a rise in the infant mortality rate for the second year running. We are part of the Baby Loss Charities Network that are working closely with the government to make baby loss a national priority to help save more babies lives. We will continue to lobby and campaign for future families to prevent similar tragedies occurring”.

 

RCM chief executive Gill Walton also expressed concerns over the regional variations evident in the data:

“The regional variations in rates are worrying. Trusts and regions must look to other areas where there are improvements being made to see why they are not doing as well, and to learn from those areas so that the regional variations are lessened…There is no doubt that in areas of high deprivation, infant death rates are higher and this is where services need targeted resource,”

 

For more on this story see RCM article here  and the Guardian’s report here
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