LOW levels of breast feeding have contributed to rising infant mortality rates in Blackburn, it was revealed today.

Shock figures produced by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation claimed the death rate for baby boys in Blackburn was double the national average.

Dr Stephen Morton, East Lancashire public health director, said there were many factors, including strong links with social deprivation and low rates of breast feeding.

He said: "The infant mortality rate has been influenced by low levels of breast feeding, which protects infants and boosts their immune systems.

"Overcrowding and parental smoking are other factors and there are other socio-economic issues such as poverty in households. "The biggest number of deaths occur within the first week of birth, usually in babies who have experienced difficult births or have genetic abnormalities."

The health authority has produced its own figures which showed that perinatal (stillbirths and deaths under seven days) and infant health (all deaths under one) had "improved considerably" between the early 1980s and early 1990s.

But the North West Public Health Association said the region's health was continuing to slip behind prosperous areas in the south.

Dr Joyce Leeson, association chairman, said urgent action was needed to reverse the death rate trends.

She said: "In the last 20 years the rich have been getting richer and the poor poorer and poverty kills.

"The localities with high death rates are those where unemployment and other indicators of deprivation are highest.

"We believe that tackling those factors which lie behind the deaths, such as poverty, poor housing and unemployment, should be a number one priority."

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