Posted: 9/20/2016
National Infant Mortality Awareness Month helps educate public about risks
September is National Infant Mortality Awareness Month, a time to increase education and awareness of the factors that contribute to infant mortality.
As part of that effort locally, experts from Parkland Health & Hospital System, along with those from the University of Southern California School of Social Work, Baylor University Medical Center, The National Medical Association and other healthcare providers recently took part in the 9th Annual Infant Mortality Awareness Summit, which highlighted efforts to reduce infant deaths, low birthweight and pre-term births, as well as disparities in perinatal outcomes.
The summit was part of Parkland’s Dallas Healthy Start program, which provides prenatal and parenting education, well baby care, food and housing assistance, as well as working on teen pregnancy and substance abuse prevention. The event was supported by the March of Dimes, Dallas County, and various local and state community organizations.
While the infant mortality rate has decreased overall across the country, it remains high in Dallas County, especially among African-Americans. In 2014, the statewide infant mortality rate was 5.8 percent per 1,000 live births, while the rate was 6.9 percent in Dallas County, according to the Texas Department of State Human Services.
Meanwhile, according to figures from the March of Dimes, the infant mortality rate for African-Americans in Dallas County from 2011-2013 was 11.8 percent; for Hispanics it was 5.7 percent and for whites it was 4.7 percent.
“The mission of Dallas Healthy Start is to reduce infant mortality by working with several components such as outreach and case management and health education,” said Karla McCoy, RN, BSN, MS, Community Programs Administrator for Women & Infants Specialty Health at Parkland.
The program also works through community collaboration and identifies social, economic and systemic issues that contribute to fetal and infant deaths. Case management services are provided by Dallas Healthy Start to clients who live in one of the high infant mortality ZIP codes in Dallas, which are: 75203, 75208, 75210, 75215, 75216, 75232 and 75241.
"We want to stress that planning for a healthy baby begins long before a mother even gets pregnant,” McCoy said. “Early and continuous prenatal care, physical activity, good nutrition, a healthy lifestyle and family and community support for women are all crucial to ensuring that our youngest and most vulnerable have the best possible start in life.”
For more information about Dallas Healthy Start, please call 214.590.1670.