Black Infant Mortality Rates Down, but Racial Gap Persists

During August of 2014, Oliver Ortega published an article on the Boston Globe about Black infant death rates. According to the publication, the persistent gap in infant mortality rates between black and white infants narrowed significantly in Boston. However, despite the great changes, the gap still remains. In 2000, data showed that black infants were five times more likely to die compared to white infants with 13.6 black infant deaths opposing 2.8 white infant deaths out of 1,000 live births. In 2012, the gap narrowed with 6.5 black infant deaths compared to 3 white infant deaths out of 1,000 live births.

These changes were explained through a new approach, started in 2012, where city health department nurses would help mothers during pregnancy and after. This approach was meant to help future mothers (especially black mothers) maintain healthy lifestyles during their first pregnancy and between pregnancies. The nurses would check up on the children until they reached age five. Also, it was meant to help future mothers deal with social stressors including housing, food and finances.

Stefanie Lawrence is one mother who benefitted from the new approach. Lawrence was impregnated at age 19 and, at the beginning of her pregnancy, faced various issues. She was forced to move into her relative’s home because she could not afford to buy her own house and she did not possess any health insurance. The stairs to the attic were she lived became harder to climb and the air was worsening her chronic asthma. Through her cousin, she was able to find the new approach that she lately signed up for. As a result of this program, a public health nurse visited Lawrence twice a month when she was pregnant to check her vital signs and help her organize a proper diet plan. At the same time, the nurse provided her food stamps, health insurance, and an apartment with one room for her and another for her baby. In 2012, Lawrence gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Destiny who is now 2 years old.

This is an important article because it demonstrates how race plays a key role in the access to health care. Black communities are more likely than white communities to face significant problems such as poverty that, as a result, may lead individuals to have health disparities. Blacks are more likely to face financial issues, more likely to have poorer jobs, more likely to not own a house, and more likely to not be able to afford a health insurance. As a result, they are more likely to not receive the same health resources and treatments that whites receive. Not having the same accessibility to health care may, in turn, result in higher death mortality among black infants.  As reported by Ortega, Lawrence is a clear example that health disparities still exist and are still affecting millions of people around the United States. Before entering the program led by Boston, she faced a lack of resources that would have helped lead a healthy pregnancy. Through the program, she gained an opportunity to obtain the resources that she needed and, in the end, she gave birth to a healthy girl that is still healthy today.

This is also an important article because it demonstrates that, despite the gap, some major cities, such as Boston, are hardly trying to narrow the gap that has always existed. While infant mortality was very high between blacks, now the rates have decreased enough to not be as significantly high as before. However, despite these changes, the reduction of health disparities is a slow process that will take a long time to be completed.

Reference List

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/08/28/black-infant-mortality-rates-down-but-racial-gap-persists/szKk7uSIwIMWn2t1yEAttJ/story.html