Obstetric practice in St Kitts and the Homerton Hospital, London

Corinne Hayes and Karen Walker won 1000 pounds in last year's Student Elective Award competition for the protocol of their project. Here, they give an account of their work, the aims of which were to compare the incidence of low birthweight (less than 2.5 kg) and very low birthweight (less than 1.5 kg) babies in the UK and the Caribbean, to assess the outcome of these babies and to compare obstetric practice and the incidence of risk factors for low birthweight in the two populations.