ABSTRACT
From the end of the nineteenth century to the present day, the survival of the infant has been of substantial interest to health experts, policy makers and the general public in Britain and elsewhere. Debate has continued on the most important influences on infant survival. These range from socio-economic conditions to maternal care, medical provision and genetic inheritance. Such issues have not diminished with the decline in infant mortality in the developed world in the later part of this century. Indeed, the continuing differentials between different social groups, despite the overall decline in infant mortality, have generated even fiercer debates. Increasing in prominence within these discussions has been the role of race and ethnicity in determining infant survival.1 A burgeoning literature is growing in Britain, America and elsewhere showing heterogeneous infant survival patterns among contemporary infants of different ethnic minorities.2 Much of this literature points to a complex relationship between ethnicity and health which involves social, cultural and racial considerations.3
