The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
More than a decade of effort to address infant mortality has brought success, opportunities, and “areas where progress remains inadequate,” according to a new study from an Ohio advocacy group.
The new research from Groundwork Ohio reflected on the fact that Ohio had become one of the worst in the country for infant mortality rates in the last 10 years, despite hard work to stem the problem in the 1990s.
“The mortality rate (10 years ago) for Black infants was nearly double that of white infants, and one ZIP code in Akron recorded the highest infant mortality rate in the country,” wrote Groundwork president and CEO Lynanne Gutierrez in introducing the report.
The indications of an area’s infant mortality rate not only show problems in ensuring children make it to their first birthday, Gutierrez wrote, but also expose “broader systemic challenges.”