COLUMBUS, Ohio – While the calendar says it is the 21st Century, Columbus and Franklin County are still stuck in the 20th when it comes to infant mortality, badly out of step with the rest of the country.
According to a report released Wednesday by the Greater Columbus Infant Mortality Task Force, more than three babies die before their first birthday every week in Franklin County. That rate is comparable to the national infant mortality rate in the 1990’s.
The report cited poverty, unemployment, a lack of healthy foods, access to health care and poor-quality schools as determining factors in infant mortality and that African-Americans in Columbus encounter barriers to those things.
“In our community, black families are disproportionately and negatively affected by high rates of poverty, unemployment and low educational attainment,” the report said.
While the rest of the U.S. saw improvements in the infant mortality rate, Ohio, Franklin County and Columbus have all seen their rates increase. All three are close to the bottom of the list on infant mortality charts.
Columbus ranks 36th among the 50 largest cities in the U.S. Ohio is the fifth-worst state and Franklin County ranks in the bottom 20 of Ohio’s 88 counties.
The Task Force was announced last year and began conducting fact-finding efforts in January, via social media, traditional media, workshops and other tactics in an effort to define the scope of the problem, its causes and to recommend solutions.
The panel discovered that the leading causes of infant mortality are premature birth, congenital anomalies, sleep-related deaths and maternal complications.
Thirteen percent of babies in Franklin County are born too early and prematurity and low birth weights were the leading causes of infant deaths, the task force concluded. The same disorders associated with premature birth and low birth weight can cause long-term health problems for babies who survive beyond their first year, the report said.
The task force also found a disparity between the mortality rate among African-American and white children and that poverty played a role in the rate of survival.
The racial disparities were most notable among deaths due to prematurity or sleep-related causes.
Income, access to health care, the availability of nutritious foods, transportation, jobs, stable housing, quality schools and family and social support networks were all factors in a child’s likelihood of survival, according to the findings.
The task force identified eight “hot spots,” neighborhoods with infant-mortality rates as much as triple that of Franklin County as a whole. While these neighborhoods – which included the Hilltop, Franklinton, the Near Southeast Side, Linden and Northland — comprise less than 10 percent the county’s births, nearly a quarter of all infant deaths and an third of non-white infant deaths are recorded, the report said.
These are neighborhoods where factors like poverty, food insecurity, low household income, safety and transportation issues all appeared to contribute to a higher mortality rate.
The panel recommended improving health services, greater collaboration between agencies and neighborhood organizations and a plan for maintaining quality health care delivery beyond birth.
The effects of race and racism on infant mortality should be addressed, the panel said.
The task force has recommended targeting neighborhoods with the highest risk for programs to clean up vacant lots and abandoned properties and address safety services, housing, transportation, employment, early childhood, education and other issues.
Among the task force’s other recommendations: Increased enrollment in public and private health insurance coverage for low-income women; programs to educate teens about the importance of preconception, preventive and primary care; improve access to prenatal information and contraception, including prevention programs in schools; improve the standards of clinical perinatal care – the period leading up to and immediately following the birth; encourage pregnant women to quit smoking.
To address the problem of SIDS – Sudden Infant Death Syndrome – the panel also recommends a public awareness and education campaign to improve safe sleep practices.
To maintain long-term efforts, the panel recommends that Columbus City Council and the Franklin county commissioners appoint an executive committee of to provide oversight and that health officials develop an “infant mortality report card” to be used to guide future efforts.