The research contains a number of other worrying figures: infant mortality is 10% higher than elsewhere; men and boys between 14 and 25 suffer from more cancers; cases of tuberculosis are higher in the city as a whole and in some inner-city areas in particular. Antwerp accounts for one in three cases of carbon monoxide poisoning, and more cases of HIV are detected in Antwerp than elsewhere in Flanders, especially among gay men and women from Central Africa.

“We have to take the question of public health seriously,” said health alderwoman Monica De Coninck. “But let’s not cause a panic. These figures are averages. Each neighbourhood has to be looked at individually.”
Not surprisingly, the worst results come from poor areas and parts of the city with a high concentration of immigrants. “Poor people eat less healthily because fresh food is more expensive, they exercise less and delay seeing the doctor,” De Coninck said. Immigrants, meanwhile, are reluctant to report illnesses or to come forward for screenings, either for cultural reasons or to avoid contact with official organisations.