Doctor explains why mortality rates higher in babies born to black ...

Higher rates of infant mortality and low birth-weight babies born to black women will not yield to programs that zero in on prenatal care alone. Nine months of prenatal care can't reverse all those other years of life disadvantages, said Dr. Michael Lu, a Los Angeles ob-gyn and researcher in public health and racial disparities. "Don't look for a quick fix," said Lu, speaking Friday at the closing day of a two-day conference on perinatal racial disparities. The conference was sponsored by the South Central Regional Perinatal Council, Virginia Department of Health, Centra Health and the March of Dimes. Lu holds joint faculty appointments at UCLA School of Medicine and in the School of Public Health, where he is associate director of the Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities.

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