Black babies die at higher rates

By: Marine OlivesiThe news:

According to the National Vital Statistics Reports released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August, the infant mortality rate was 6.79 deaths per 1,000 “live births” in the country.

Behind the news:

According to a 2006 report from the Chicago Department of Public Health, the infant mortality rate in Chicago stood well above the national rate at 9.6 deaths per 1,000.

Five predominantly black neighborhoods on the South and West sides had the highest rates: Greater Grand Crossing, South Shore, Washington Park, West Englewood and West Garfield Park.

By comparison, Edison Park, a Northwest Side neighborhood with the highest percentage of white population—93.3 percent—had only one infant death. The rate for Edison Park, along with 39 other neighborhoods, was not produced by the public health department since the reported numbers of infant deaths were too few for the rate to be reliable.

Kwang-sun Lee, chief of neonatology at the University of Chicago Hospital, said that infant mortality is mostly about birth weight. Black babies in particular have a lower birth weight, and that puts them more at risk, Lee said. “There are so many hypotheses … but to tell the truth, nobody exactly knows why it is so,” he said.

Job opportunity, proper education and income, as well as good nutrition, may improve that trend since low birth weight is likely the result of many factors such as stress, Lee said. Still, he cautioned, studies have shown that even socio-economic improvement does not completely erase the disparities in birth weight among black and white babies.

Tamika D. Hinton, associate project manager for Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition, says education is a key in reducing the rate among black babies.

Health issues during pregnancy and unsafe sleeping practice for newborns are the two most critical factors of infant death, she explains. “In West Englewood, we have plenty of McDonald’s but no fresh-food store, so how can we expect a baby to come out truly healthy?” said Hinton, who added that too many African-American women are uninformed about the risks of smoking and drinking while pregnant.

In addition to its media and outreach educational campaign, the coalition held “Maternal and Infant mortality Summit” in October—the first of its kind since 1986. “No one has dared to take a step in 20
years, so we had to decide to do it ourselves,” she said. “If we continue to have sick babies, we won’t ever be a healthy state.”

Another problem is that some pregnant women do not take advantage of appropriate services and resources that do exist, said Mary K. Palmore, chairman of the obstetrics and gynecology at Advocate Trinity Hospital, which assists pregnant women without insurance.

“People have to avail themselves to them; otherwise, we can’t affect infant mortality,” she said.