The US infant mortality rate rose last year. The CDC says it's the largest increase in two decades
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The U.S. infant mortality rate rose 3% last year, which is the largest increase in two decades. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows significant death rate increases for white and Native American infants, infant boys and babies born at 37 weeks or earlier.

The U.S. infant mortality rate rose 3% last year — the largest increase in two decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

White and Native American infants, infant boys and babies born at 37 weeks or earlier had significant death rate increases. The CDC’s report, published Wednesday, also noted larger increases for two of the leading causes of infant deaths — maternal complications and bacterial meningitis.

“It’s definitely concerning, given that it’s going in the opposite direction from what it has been,” said Marie Thoma, a University of Maryland researcher who studies maternal and infant mortality.

  • blurg@lemmy.world
    10·
    1 year ago

    The US is already among the worst for infant mortality (bottom 4th among North American and Western European countries). The downward-trend causes and solutions are interrelated and complex, and include (and aren’t limited to):

    • For profit (privatized) healthcare (for those under 65, the child-raising generations); solution: universal basic (single-payer) healthcare.
    • Laws limiting healthcare options for women; solution: reinstate Roe v. Wade
    • Limiting financial support for families forced by law (and religion-based moral public pressure) into providing for a child they can’t afford; solution: universal basic income and healthcare.
    • Local environmental conditions (chemical exposure of workers and residents); solution: improve, enforce, and fund environmental protection.
    • Pharmaceuticals based on loose evidence for lack of harm (e.g. short-term, limited, selective studies); solution: independent long-term studies based on evidence of safety.

    None of the problems are a surprise, they are the predictable consequences of choices. None of the solutions are flawless, even while they head in a more public direction.

    • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.org
      4·
      1 year ago

      One of the other significant causes that relates back to your first point is a lack of staff, training, and established procedures for birthing complications. A substantial portion of infant and mother mortality in the US has been linked to a lack of investment in addressing preventable issues, because that costs shareholders more.