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Article: INFANT MORTALITY ON RISE IN STATE
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- December 12, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (null) The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Infant mortality, considered one of the most sensitive indicators
of a society's health status, is on the increase in Massachusetts,
especially among African-Americans in Boston.
Figures to be released today by state and city health
officials demonstrate increases in both white and black infant
mortality rates for 1988, the latest data available. But because
black rates have increased more, the result is a widening racial
disparity in infant death rates.
The statewide rate was 17.2 deaths per 1,000 for black infants
versus 7.1 for whites, a 2.4-fold disparity. At the beginning of
the decade, black infants died at 1.7 times the rate among white
babies.
"The public needs to hear that ...