Infant Mortality Rates Soar in Mississippi

After years of falling infant mortality rates, death rates have risen again in Mississippi, one of the poorest states of the nation. The tragedy, most pronounced among the black and poor, is likely the product of worsening maternal health, welfare and Medicare cuts, and limited access to doctors -- and the numbers could foreshadow a similar problem throughout the Southeast and, perhaps, the United States.

Dr. William Langston, an obstetrician at the Mississippi Department of Health, said in a telephone interview that officials could not yet explain the sudden increase and were investigating. Dr. Langston said the state was working to extend prenatal care and was experimenting with new outreach programs. But, he added, “programs take money, and Mississippi is the poorest state in the nation.”

Doctors who treat poor women say they are not surprised by the reversal.

“I think the rise is real, and it’s going to get worse,” said Dr. Bouldin Marley, an obstetrician at a private clinic in Clarksdale since 1979. “The mothers in general, black or white, are not as healthy,” Dr. Marley said, calling obesity and its complications a main culprit.

In Turnabout, Infant Deaths Climb in South [New York Times]

Image: Jeremy Engleman