Ohioans must not tolerate high infant mortality rate

The latest statistics on infant mortality in Ohio shock the senses: The Buckeye State ranks 43rd highest in the nation in infant deaths; we rank absolute highest in infant death rates among African-Americans; Mahoning County ranks 10th highest in the U.S. in infant mortality among counties with 250,000 people or more in infant mortality.

That and other anguishing data, as reported in a two-day series in The Vindicator this week by collegiate journalists at The News Outlet.org, only begin to define the scope of the troubling trend.

As Gov. John Kasich commented, “Ohio has one of the highest infant-mortality rates, and that is simply unacceptable.”

We agree and hope that a series of public-health initiatives in concert with greater awareness of healthy maternal behaviors will help erase this claim to shame that besmirches the image of the state and the quality of life within it, particularly among its youngest and most vulnerable population.

To its credit, officials in public health departments on the state and local levels have taken the problem seriously. Just last month, Kasich unveiled two new programs statewide to help more babies reach their first birthdays. First, the Ohio Medicaid program now will provide immediate high-risk management and services to pregnant women and babies. Second the state will spend $900,000 to fund pregnancy projects to provide services to expectant mothers and a place they can gather to support one another.

The Mahoning Valley recently has gotten on board with such initiatives, one of the most promising of which is a so-called “centering pregnancy program,” at which pregnant women meet in groups for health assessments, education and support. We commend Mercy Health for developing these promising programs at its hospitals in Youngstown, Warren and Boardman.

On the national level, the U.S. Congress recently awakened from its lethargy and passed, after six long years of irresponsible inaction, legislation to better track and monitor infant deaths throughout the nation. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, played a major role in finally pushing the legislation to the finish line.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Of course, progressive new laws and public-spirited initatives can go only so far toward lowering our state’s abysmally high infant-death rates. A variety of factors plays a role in mothering healthy babies. Among them are individual initiative and heightened responsibility among mothers and fathers. They include ensuring all pregnant women are educated on avoiding risky health behaviors such as drinking and smoking and on the necessity to get medical attention early and often.

As The News Outlet journalists reported in their series Monday, the easiest way to curb infant deaths is to keep babies on their backs when they sleep.

“Every week in Ohio, three infants die in unsafe sleep environments or during sleep,” Dr. Elena Rossi, a neonatologist at Akron Children’s Hospital said. She and other medical officials also urge women to follow prescribed behaviors to lessen the chance of premature birth, to practice breastfeeding exclusively during the first six months of a child’s life and to plan births at least 18 months apart from one another.

Such focus on individual responsibility, coupled with aggressive public-health campaigns, can go far toward lessening the long-lasting devastation caused by the death of an infant.