The D.C. government will launch a broad effort in 2008 to tackle infant mortality rates that have ticked up in the last two years and remain double the national average, District leaders announced Wednesday.
The city’s infant mortality rate dipped from 14.4 per 1,000 live births in 1996 to 13.6 in 2005, according to statistics released this week by the D.C. Department of Health. But the 2005 figure rose to its highest level since 1999, when 113 infants died out of 7,513 births. Nationally, the infant mortality rate has hovered for years around seven deaths per 1,000 births.
“Whether it’s 14.4, 13.6 or even when it’s ebbed down to 10.6, all of it’s too high,” Mayor Adrian Fenty said during a news conference at the D.C. Developing Families Center, a birthing center and health clinic in Northeast Washington.
Led by the Department of Health, the District will expand home visits to pregnant women and new moms, launch a public information campaign to promote healthy pregnancies, implement aggressive prenatal HIV testing, distribute thousands of free cribs and enhance links to substance abuse treatment, among other programs.
“We’re not going to make a real dent in this until we look holistically at our health,” said D.C. Councilman David Catania, chairman of the health committee.
The District’s infant mortality rate is comparable to other big cities, said Dr. Carlos Cano, interim DOH director, but the health department today is only reaching a fraction of pregnant women who might need help. The District hopes to drop the infant mortality rate to 10 by 2010, he said.
Cano expects to distribute between 15,000 and 18,000 free cribs over the next seven months to low-income mothers to prevent sudden infant death syndrome. The cribs come from Baltimore-based First Candle thanks to an $11 million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Developing Families Center picked up a $300,000 grant Tuesday from the D.C. Council. Center founder Ruth Lubic said the money should “see us through” 2008.
By the numbers
» Infant deaths increased from 94 in 2004 to 108 in 2005
» Infant death rate among black mothers increased from 16.7 per 1,000 live births in 2004 to 18.4 in 2005, breaking a four-year downward trend
» Of the 108 deaths in 2005, 74 occurred before the baby was 28 days old
