Death rate of infants in the US still high
November 28, 2007 by Grace Ibay
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
One would think that with all the modernized infant care we have, that death rates in the U.S. would be low.
On the contrary, the United States has one of the highest death rates of newborns among other modernized nations, reports the Associated Press. Apparently, we’re just ahead of Latvia, and tied with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia near the bottom of the list.
CDC statistics show that babies born to black mothers in the United States die at two-and-a-half times the rate of babies whose mothers are white.
If it’s any consolation, the infant death rate has dropped from 26 deaths per 1,000 births in 1960 to just 7 deaths per 1,000 births in 2004. But this isn’t enough.
And why is this? Racial and economic disparities are to blame, along with lack of national health insurance and short maternity leaves. (Don’t get me started on maternity leaves, now…)
“Our health care system focuses on providing high-tech services for complicated cases. We do this very well,” said Kenneth Thorpe, an Emory University health policy expert. “What we do not do is provide basic primary and preventive health care services.”
Ouch. The US health agencies and the medical community definitely need to rethink priorities.
sources:AP/Babycenter; commondreams
Tags: infant health, US, statistics, death rates, mortality, infant care
