FYI: The African American infant mortality rate is twice that of whites in New York City, although the overall death rate for newborns dropped nine percent last year. The health department announced yesterday that 10 infant deaths occurred for every 1,000 live births among black New Yorkers in 2001, while the white rate was 4.2 per 1,000. Geographic disparities were similarly striking: Central Harlem, with a rate of 13.1, and Bed-Stuy, with a rate of 10, were the city’s only two neighborhoods with mortality rates in double digits. Much of the area adjacent to Bed-Stuy—including Brownsville, Bushwick, Flatbush and Fort Greene—topped the overall city rate of 6.1. [12/13/02]