Why Ohio must tackle infant mortality: editorial
Ohio needs to do a lot more to prevent premature births and sleep-related hazards that can kill babies in their first year. (Bill Haber/AP)
By Editorial Board on February 11, 2014 at 8:30 PM, updated February 11, 2014 at 8:33 PMOne clear conclusion is apparent from the statistically-rich 2012 child fatality review report for Cuyahoga County: Creative methods to reduce infant mortality, particularly black infant mortality, must be found.
Fortunately, Ohio is armed with more than $6 million to help counties tackle this issue head on through a billboard campaign on safe sleeping practices, prenatal smoking cessation programs, newborn health screenings and medical interventions, says Tessie Pollock, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health.
However, counties also will need Ohio residents to spread the gospel about the ABCs of safe sleeping for babies (Alone, on their Back in a Crib without bedding) and the need to prevent premature births through drug treatment and healthy lifestyles.
This insidious health crisis deserves a full-court press: For years, infant mortality -- mostly as a result of premature births and sleeping hazards -- has been a scourge in Cuyahoga County.
There were improvements in 2012, according to “Protecting Our Future,” the county's child fatality report. However the county's infant mortality rate of 8.7 per 1,000 babies means that almost nine babies out of every 1,000 didn’t celebrate their first birthday.
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That's worse than Ohio’s rate of 7.5 per 1000, which wins no accolades in the medical community. And it’s far worse than the U.S. rate of 6 per 1,000, ranking Ohio 47th among the states and almost dead last -- 49th -- for black infant mortality, according to the Ohio Department of Health. We have a long way to go, baby.
The economic and moral costs are far too great.
The moral argument is obvious: Our state and our county should be doing everything they can to make sure that our littlest citizens survive and thrive.
Many of the babies who die are poor and black, which makes them more at risk, but no race or income bracket is immune from prematurity or sleep-related deaths, Pollock says.
The economic argument is just as real: Preemies are expensive. In 2012, the cost of caring for the mothers of 2,000 Cuyahoga County babies born before 32 weeks' gestation was $130,000,000, according to the report. And since many of those babies' families were poor, their bills went to Medicaid, meaning every tax-paying Ohioan shared in the cost.
Premature births -- those before 39 weeks -- are largely preventable. The first step is for women to make sure they are healthy nonsmokers before they get pregnant and that they are using contraceptives if they don’t intend to have a baby, which can be a challenge in a country where half of the pregnancies are unintended, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
About two years ago, Ohio quietly signed on to a federal program that some states have used since 1982 -- (it’s about time) -- to give low-income women and their partners free contraceptives at family planning and health clinics, says Angela Newman, Child and Family Health Services project director for Cuyahoga County Department of Health.
And there are medical treatments for pregnant women at risk for having pre-term births, says Newman. The county is talking to health providers about better screening of pregnant women and using the hormone progesterone to delay those births.
As for sleep-related deaths, those could be reduced if parents and caretakers refrained from sleeping with their infants and put the children to sleep on their backs.
That’s a tough message to promote because co-sleeping is a very old practice and, let’s face it, long, sleepless nights with a screaming infant can lead to expedient but unwise solutions.
State and county officials must work ceaselessly to protect infants, who can't protect themselves.
For more information view the following reports:
Ohio Collaborative to Prevent Infant Mortality:
Ohio’s 2012 Infant Mortality Data
The Affordable Care Act and Coverage for Pregnant Women: Where We Are and What Lies Ahead
Infant Mortality and Prematurity in Ohio: from state data and action to local data and action
