An inquiry into the high number of baby deaths in Bradford held its fourth meeting yesterday

The Bradford District Infant Mortality Commission was set up by Bradford Vision to examine how the number of infant deaths in the district might be cut after it emerged the figure was almost double the national average.

Speakers at the meeting included Lesley Hewson, Bradford District Care Trust's director of child and adolescent health, Claire Whiteley, co-ordinator of the District's Teenage Pregnancy Service, and Carol Chu and Jude Hayward, specialists within the fields of genetics and autosomal recessive disorders.

Dr Hewson spoke about the implications of mental health and learning difficulties for pregnancy, childbirth and early years.

She said: "When considering the well-being of the infant one must consider the well-being of the mother, and this should include their mental health as well as their physical health."

Dr Hewson said it was common for women to suffer from the 'blues' after giving birth and said that if not monitored this could develop into depression and even psychosis.

She said between 12 to 15 per cent of women across the country developed post-natal depression after child-birth due to factors such as marital and family conflict, lack of support, substance abuse, and issues associated with unwanted pregnancies.

Dr Hewson said: "Without treatment 30 per cent of these women with postnatal depression will still be ill a year later."

She said Bradford District Care Trust needed to carry out routine screening to identify women at risk, and systematic screening of women thought to be vulnerable to depression.

Dr Hewson said she had not been able to find any studies that made sense of the relationship between maternal depression and infant death, but said studies in Pakistan and Goa had shown that there was a link between low income communities and high levels of maternal depression.

The commission, which met for the first time in February, is to spend a year probing a range of factors including socio-economic issues, congenital abnormality and smoking, drinking alcohol and drug abuse during pregnancy.

It also hopes to discover why at least half of the babies who died in the district in 2003 were from the South Asian community.

The inquiry's findings will be reported back to Bradford Vision which will then ensure recommendations are implemented by health organisations, education, social services and community groups.