We are reading and seeing personal stories from across the nation of women suffering from complications of pregnancy and families who have lost mothers, babies or both. Back in April, The Center for Community Solutions began to review existing maternal mortality and morbidity data in Ohio. The most recent data available from the Ohio Department...
Post
Election Day is coming; how will candidates address Ohio’s infant mortality rate?
Ohio’s infant mortality rate of 7.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births continues to be one of the highest in the nation. The infant mortality rate is an international indicator of population health; high rates denote systemic failures impacting health access in communities. Progress has been made in reducing the rate of white infant mortality,...
Post
Putting the “Mother” Back into Maternal and Infant Health
April 30, 2018 In the United States, women are dying from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth at a higher rate than other industrialized nations, and the rate is increasing. Understanding this issue is complex; even just understanding the terminology describing deaths and complications related to pregnancy and childbirth is quite an undertaking. It’s important...
Post
Racial Disparities in Infant Mortality Risk Factors
One of the most troubling realities in our community is that our infant mortality rate – the rate of babies who do not live to their first birthday – is significantly higher than the national average. In Cuyahoga County, nearly nine babies out of every 1,000 live births die, compared to a national infant mortality...
Post
New Information Released on HHS Termination of Teen Pregnancy Prevention Grants
Today, NBC News released information from the internal notes of federal officials, highlighting reasons behind the early termination of federal Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program funding. The program was just beginning year three of a 5 year funding cycle when the change was announced last July. Although no poor outcomes were cited as a reason...
Post
The Commission on Infant Mortality
The Commission on Infant Mortality met Wednesday, October 11, for the first time in over a year and a half. The commission focused on the work that began with the passage of Senate Bill 332, focusing on what has happened since the last meeting (April 28, 2016) and what the state has been doing regarding...
Post
Commission on Infant Mortality has its first meeting
I attended the first meeting of the Commission on Infant Mortality last Wednesday in the Ohio Senate Finance Hearing Room. The meeting lasted for nearly 3 hours. Medicaid Director John McCarthy made the initial presentation, focusing on the new $13.4 million in the state budget for infant mortality work. He pointed out that Ohio’s high infant...