Infant death by nationality of the mother in the borough of Haringey, 1969-72 and 1973-75

ABSTRACT

The Court Report has made proposals for a substantial change in the organization of the Child Health Service in England and Wales. The need for these changes appears to have been related to the poor relative performance when the Infant Mortality rate in England and Wales was compared with that of certain other countries. The findings in this brief survey in Haringey shows that the commonwealth immigrants in the 1960's suffered a higher rate of death than the native English; and it follows that the higher rate may have been a factor in the poor relative international performance. The same child health services were available for all groups of the population but the methods of child rearing were different. The quality of maternal care may be more important for infant survival than the state of the child health services (AU)