Dear Neil and all
Thank you for sharing this with us.
The data which I'm showing is not the under-five death rate, but even in high-income countries like Japan, there is a significant disparity in infant mortality rates between economic classes.
The national average is 1.8 per 1,000 births (2023), which is one of the lowest rates in the world. However, for unemployed parents, the rate is 19.0, more than 10 times higher. For households with working parents at companies with 100 or more employees, the rate is 1.0, so the difference is nearly 20 times higher. I want to call this high-rate infant death "Silent Death".
The Japanese Government does not have enough systematic support for economically vulnerable infants and families. The background of this higher rate is complicated.
We have to consider the higher abuse or neglect rate, not enough baby care information and official support. However, there is still a lack of sufficient socio-medical analysis of the background to this.
Kind regards,
Hajime
CHIFA profile:
Hajime Takeuchi is a professor at the Bukkyo University in Japan. Professional interests: child health, child poverty, child wellbeing. takechanespid@gmail.com He is a CHIFA Country Representative for Japan and a member of the CHIFA Steering Group (child health and rights) http://www.hifa.org/support/members/hajime takechanespid AT gmail.com