An article from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1277678/Child-mortality-total-Britain-worst-Western-Europe.html
The shame of baby deaths in Britain: Child mortality total is the worst in Western Europe
By Jenny Hope
Last updated at 8:03 AM on 12th May 2010
The number of deaths among children under five is worse in Britain than anywhere else in Western Europe as women delay motherhood and lead unhealthy lives.
Researchers say 4,324 under fives died in the UK in 2008, which was 'way ahead' of the number in France, Germany and Italy.
More than half of the children died within the first four weeks of life and many of the deaths were preventable, according to their report.
More than half of the children died within the first four weeks of life and many of the deaths were preventable, according a report. (Posed by model)
Experts say poor antenatal care and a rapid rise in premature births was largely to blame.
Delayed motherhood and soaring rates of obesity among pregnant women are linked to premature births, according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
The report, published today in The Lancet medical journal, looks at global death rates in children under five.
Two-thirds of the 8.8million deaths were caused by infectious diseases.
But the UK had the highest number of deaths in this age group in Western Europe - a 'difference that cannot be solely accounted for by population size', says The Lancet.
The UK, with a population of around 61million, had 4,324 deaths in children under five in 2008, while France had 3,090 deaths in a population of 64million.
In Germany, with a population of 82million, there were 2,943 deaths, while Italy recorded 2,350 deaths in a population of 60million.
But Turkey, with a population of 73million, had almost 30,000 deaths of under-fives.
The total death rate in the UK was 'very small' in the global context, says the study by scientists at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland, and the World Health Organisation.
Fifty-five per cent of deaths in under-fives in the UK were in babies during the neonatal period - the first four weeks of life.
The report shows pre-term birth complications were the largest cause of death (36 per cent) followed by congenital abnormalities (26 per cent) and birth asphyxia (7 per cent).
There has been a surge in pregnancy among women in their 30s, while almost one in four women in the UK is obese and a further third are overweight.
Professor Siobhan Quenby, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: 'There are many reasons why the neonatal death rate in the UK is higher than in other countries in Western Europe. It is related to an increased rate of pre-term birth.
'Over the last few years, we have seen an increase in the numbers of pregnant women with risk factors such as older mothers, maternal obesity and multiple pregnancies through fertility treatment; all of which are associated with pre-term labour.'
Antenatal tests to check the health of the unborn baby are usually carried out at clinics in GP surgeries or hospital, although some offer a midwife home-visiting service.
But women living in poorer areas or who are at high risk often do not attend appointments regularly, which can lead to problems going unnoticed.
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