Infant Mortality Within the United States Essay

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

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.

The bill selected for the purpose of this legislative analysis is titled the Stop Infant Mortality and Recidivism Reduction Act of 2016, and is also recognized by the abbreviation SIMARRA Act. The bill number is 5,130 in the House of Representatives, and has no related bills in the Senate. The SIMARRA Act is a federal bill that was last referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations for further review and analysis.

The United States of America, the self-proclaimed sole remaining superpower, often touts that it is the greatest nation in the world. Yet, when the data is analyzed, this claim is proven time and time again to be wrong, whether it is math or science, literacy or numbers, household income or workforce. Time and time again, and the numbers continue to slip. Healthcare is no exception. In 2012, the United States ranked thirty-second worldwide in life expectancy (Avendano and Kawachi 2014). Of the thirty-four Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations in 2010, the United States ranked twenty-sixth in infant mortality (MacDorman et al. 2010). In a 1998 study of thirteen developed nations (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States), the United States ranked, on average, twelfth. The rankings for the United States on each of the sixteen health indicators was: thirteenth for low-birth-weight percentages; thirteenth for neonatal mortality and infant mortality overall; eleventh for post neonatal mortality; thirteenth for years of potential life lost (excluding external causes); eleventh for life expectancy at one year for females and twelfth for males; tenth for life expectancy at fifteen years for females and twelfth for males; tenth for life expectancy at forty years for females and ninth for males; seventh for life expectancy at sixty-five years for

“Compared with European Americans, African American infants experience disproportionately high rates of low birth weight (LBW) and preterm delivery and are more than twice as likely to die during their 1st year of life”(Giscombé, C. L., & Lobel, M., 2005). The infant mortality rate for African Americans is 13.7 deaths per 1000 live births, more than twice the rate (5.7) for White Americans in the U.S. (Kung, Hoyert, Xu, & Murphy, 2008). A lot of the racial disparity in infant mortality can be explained by low birthweight and preterm delivery, which are also disproportionately and often experienced by African Americans (Martin et al., 2007).

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a condition that many people still are trying to figure out why it happens to these babies. This syndrome is described as an unexplained death of an infant younger than one year of age. SIDS is frightening because it can strike without warning and affect a good, healthy infant. Most SIDS deaths occur at night and without warning. SIDS victims may have been down for sleep for as little as ten minutes, they show signs of struggle or suffering. Although SIDS is commonly associated with an infants sleep time, and often occurs in the crib. This event is not limited to the crib and may occur anywhere the infant is sleeping, deaths have occurred in

associations in a pathway model connecting race-based discrimination, stress, and negative preterm birth outcomes in African American women.

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.

In our community, disparities in mortality rates have been shown to be influenced by the unequal distribution of resources such as adequate income, quality nutrition, jobs, transportation, insurance enrollment, stable housing and education level. In Columbus, black families are more likely to be affected by poverty, joblessness and education deficits and in turn are more likely to experience an infant death. Considering this information, city government should enact laws, write policy, and develop programs that would decrease the infant mortality disparities in the black community and improve social and economic conditions (Greater Columbus Infant Mortality Task Force,

The black infant mortality rate in 2010, (11.8) was similar to the white infant mortality rate in 1980 (11.7); an unbelievable thirty year difference for a balance measure (Florida Vital Statistics Annual Report, 2012). Currently, in the local community of Orange County, Florida the infant mortality rate exceeds that of the US at 7.5, and the rate is also doubled in African American women at 13.5, wheres it is 5.6 for births by white women (Florida Charts, 2014). Per Florida Charts (2014), disorders related to short gestation (pre-term birth – less than 37 weeks of pregnancy) and low birth weight, followed by sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) are the leading causes of infant deaths in African American births in Orange County, which is relative to the rest of the

The mortality rate has been high in the region but in the past ten years there has been a notable decrease in birth rate. This has however not affected the population growth of the area. The Chicago pregnant mothers have smoking habits which is one of the causes of the decrease in the birth rate. Generally the area recorded a decrease in the infant mortality rate. It decreased from 7.6 in 2003 to 7.3 infants’ death less than 1 year of age per 1,000 live births in 2004. This represents the second lowest record in the United States according to Illinois Centre for Health Statistics, a division of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). According to the report, the infant mortality rate decreased by 4.6 per cent between 2003 and 2004 and at the same period the birth rate decreased by 0.9 percent. This was due to the fall in the number of the total births in the area. However, there was a decrease in the mortality rate in the state during this period due to the effects of the neonatal period. The neonatal mortality rate decreased from 6.5 to 5.4 percent between 2003 and 2004 while the postnatal mortality rate increased from 3.1to 3.0 between the same periods (2003-2004). The infant mortality rate recorded a larger decline among the blacks compared to the whites, that is, 15.6 in 2003 to 14.8 in 2004 (Sinai Urban Health

The U.S. infant mortality rate is 5.7 per 1000 births and 1.5 in Canada although has declined over the past several decades (O'Neill & O'Neill, 2007). Low-birth weight babies have a better chance at survival in the U.S. than in Canada due to advances in medical technology and expenditures on intensive care units (O'Neill & O'Neill, 2007). The reason there are more infant mortality rates in the U.S. is because there are more infants born weighing very little than compared to Canada.

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).

Infant mortality rates for African American women are two times higher than any other race in the United States. It is thought that socioeconomic status and low education among the African American population is the main factor in this issue, but it is not. Studies show that as an African American woman in the U.S., childbearing health is affected due to the unequal treatment in American society.

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.