High Infant Mortality

There is a very low infant mortality rate, 2.8 in a thousand, and a relatively low birth rate as well, at 7.41 births in a thousand. However, the death rate, 9.83 deaths in a thousand, is

This can be defined as heath care that is received while pregnant, and can be seen through a few of the many ways to obtain care: going for regular monthly checkups, taking prenatal vitamins, eating properly and healthily to obtain the nutrients needed (U.S Women’s Health Department, 2012). A healthy pregnancy increases the chances for a healthy newborn, and according to the U.S Women’s Health Department (2012), “babies of mothers who do not get prenatal care are three times more likely to have a low birth weight and five times more likely to die than those born to mothers who do get care”. When taking care of the body and focusing on prenatal care, doctors are able to catch health problems in the baby earlier and health problems in the mother that can later affect the baby, and through proper prenatal care, it allows these issues to be treated early (U.S Women’s Health Department, 2012). In previous years and centuries, because prenatal care was not widely recognized, and future mothers did not recognize the importance of proper care of the fetus, the number of newborns born with birth defects or irregular vital signs was significantly higher than in today’s

Infant mortality rate constitutes the death of a baby before their first birthday. Mortality rates around the world differ tremendously with America leading the first world countries at an alarming rate of 6.1 deaths per 1,000 births. Conversely, Finland and Japan secure the last, most desirable position, with deaths totaling 2.3 per 1,000 births, as of 2010. (Ovaska-Few, 2015) In 2014, over 23,000 babies died in the United States. (CDC, 2016) Exploring the mortality rates in America brings light to a dire need for additional interventions and research as to why this developing nation has the highest rate of infant deaths before the age of 1 year old. African Americans face the worst outcomes of infant death compared to whites, Latino, and their Native American peers in North Carolina. (Ovaska-Few, 2015) This paper will explore why African American are the leading race for infant mortality and the steps that health communities need to take to address this devastating occurrence.

Why do African Americans have a higher rate of infant mortality, low birth weights and preterm delivery? Evidence

After a great deal of research and strong evidence to support such claims, I have come to the conclusion that the cause of the black and white infant mortality gap can be attributed to the near two-fold increased rates of low birth weight and preterm births, and the near three-fold increased rates of very low birth weight and very preterm births among black infants. However, the cause of the racial disparities between such birth outcome rates remains largely unexplained. Most studies focus on differential exposures to risk, such as high teen pregnancy rates, single motherhood, lower education levels, poverty, and even genetic causes, but these factors do not adequately account for the racial disparities in birth outcomes. Based off of the studies previously mentioned, the lack of prenatal support, social support, and high allostatic load appear to be some of the main factors that contribute to accounting for the black and white infant mortality gap. As a result, researches have recently proposed an alternative approach to examining racial-ethnic disparities in birth outcomes using a “life course perspective”. A life course perspective, as defined by scientist Michael Lu, is known to “conceptualize birth outcomes as the end product of not only the nine months of pregnancy but the entire life course of the mother before the pregnancy.”

One important health disparity is the lack of prenatal care amongst women in socially disadvantaged populations. These predominately include women of minorities, women who have a low income, and the location these women live in. This health disparity is important to address because research has shown that women who receive prenatal care are more likely to conceive babies of a healthy birth weight and have low infant mortality rates than those women who do not receive this prenatal care ("Putting Women 's Health Disparities on the Map," 2009). Therefore, health disparities amongst women in need of prenatal care have lead to preventable infant mortalities amongst women in vulnerable populations. Three reasons why this health disparity is important to address include the following: health disparities in prenatal care lead to lack of access to prenatal care to women in vulnerable populations, there are increased adverse health outcomes for both the infant and mother, and there are excess medical expenses that could otherwise have been prevented. Because “prematurity is the leading cause of newborn death in the United States” (“Healthy Mothers and Healthy babies,” 2013), finding and developing a solution will be extremely beneficial and needs to begin with addressing prenatal care.

Major disparities continue to exist in spite of America’s “Affordable Care Act”, Although minorities suffer disease five times greater than the rest of the nation, minorities represent the majority of the disparity. Infant Mortality has always been America’s indicator as to the state of the countries health status. America is one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world, However, America ranks number 24th in the world for infant mortality. Puerto Rican and Indian women rank highest among ethnic classes with low infant mortality rates. Some researchers have found lack of prenatal access as the key contributing factor to low mortality and birth weights among these two ethnic classes.

Death and illnesses among women, infant, and child are preventable. In pregnancy, existing health risks can distinguish or prevent any future health problems for women and their children. According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2016), some high-risk factors that may consider are the following: hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, depression, genetic conditions, sexually transmitted diseases, tobacco and alcohol abuse, inadequate nutrition and unhealthy weight. By having this government Healthy 2020 initiative, factors that can affect the pregnancy and childbirth such as poverty,

How socio-economic disadvantaged moms, results in their inability to good communication and less support systems in their environment, therefore reducing access to prenatal health care. Low education levels creates a barrier to accessibility of prenatal information and education, therefore, hampering mother's knowledge for good prenatal care.

When looking at infant mortality rates in the lowest class evidence shows that double the amount of babies die in comparison to the highest class this can be linked to poverty the poorer you are the worse your chances are even at birth. These following factors increase the risk of infant death; the age of the mother aged less than 18 years is the highest and the lowest for mothers between 30 and 34. With the high teenage pregnancy epidemic and women from lower social class background the most at risk from losing their baby.

According to Healthy People 2020, "Improving the well-being of mothers, infants, and children, is an important public health goal for the United States. Their well-being determines the health of the next generation and can help predict future public health challenges for families, communities, and the health care system" (Healthy People 2020, 2015). Infant mortality is defined as the death of an infant before his or her first birthday, while fetal mortality is defined as the intrauterine death of a fetus at any gestational age (MMRW, 2013 and MacDorman, Kirmeyer & Wilson, 2012). In the United States an estimated 13,000 fetal deaths occurred ≥ 28 weeks gestation making up 28% of all perinatal deaths in 2006, the latest year with available national data (Lee,

In the United States, there are disparities between the different racial groups when it comes to low birth weights and premature births. Evidence of this can be seen with information collected Reichman (2005). She found that African Americans have the highest rate with this accounting for 13.0%. While whites are reporting 6.5% and Hispanics are seeing figures of 6.5%. However, inside the Hispanic demographic there are differences in these numbers as Puerto Ricans have 9.4%. These disparities are not tied to economic status with many educated African American women having children of low birth weight. Whereas, there are differences between select segments of the Hispanic population in contrast with other sub groups. (Reichman, 2005)

The differences in infant mortality rate defined by race can be attributed to access to healthcare. African Americans

Oddly enough, even with all the medical technological brought forth by the US we are still ranked with a higher infant death rate than Japan. In a study published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and titled "America's Health Starts with Healthy Children: How do States Compare?” the report found that the high infant death rate is correlated with the lack of education of the mother. Access to healthcare is another correlation to the problem since about 45 million Americans, or 15 percent of the population, are now estimated to be without any form of health insurance (O'Connor, 2008).

In his article, "Why are so many U.S. women dying during childbirth?", Munz (2012) pointed out that U.S. is experiencing a rise in maternal mortality. It has doubled for the last 25 years and the experts are uncertain about the increase. Experts are not entirely clear for the rise in the maternal deaths in the U.S., but there are some aspects that may be link to this.