In this week's Pittsburg Tribune-Review, reporter Debra Erdley explored the link between race and infant mortality in the Pittsburg area. In AlleghenyCounty (where Pittsburg is located), black babies are more than 5 times more likely to die in the first year of life than their white counterparts. In fact, the infant mortality rate for black infants in Allegheny County, at 20.7 per 1000, is even higher than the rate for infants in the developing nation of Libya (where the rate is 20.09 per 1000).
What accounts for this enormous gap? Researchers aren't completely sure. Some of it can be traced to the higher rate of premature birth among African-American women. There are also higher rates of high blood pressure and diabetes among black women, all of which contribute to early delivery and pregnancy loss. The question remains--why do black women suffer from all these risk factors in the first place? And furthermore, what can we do about it?
In Pittsburg, the federally funded program Healthy Start is trying to tackle the problem with home visits for at-risk women. They focus on educating women about the importance of going to their prenatal appointments during pregnancy, and after the baby is born, on safe sleeping habits, and bonding with their babies. Women in the program have a dramatically lower infant mortality rate of only 2.74 per 1000.
Clearly, these simple interventions are making a dramatic difference. More effort is needed to help reduce the rate of infant mortality in the entire nation, but especially among black women, and these types of programs may be the right way to begin.
For more information about safe sleeping and prenatal care, please see:
Back to Sleep Prevents SIDS
SIDS - Reducing the Risk
Does Getting Prenatal Care Reduce the Risk of Miscarriage?
