Genesee County Health Department
Better Life Through Better Health
Release Date:
For Immediate Release
November 13, 2006
Contact Person: Leslie
Lathrop, BSN
Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Coordinator
Genesee County Health Department
Phone: (810) 257-3134
Fax:
(810)
257-3121
Genesee County’s Infant Death Rate Lowest in 20 Years
Genesee
County’s infant death rate has dropped to an all-time low. According to the
Michigan Department of Community Health, Genesee County’s infant death rate for
2005 was 8.9 per 1,000 live births, considerably less than 2004’s rate of 12.4.
The death of an infant (from birth to 1 year) is a sentinel event that serves as
a measure of a community’s overall health as well as its social and economic
well-being.
The City of
Flint also
experienced a major drop in infant deaths. Flint’s average infant death rate
for the 3-year period 2003-05 was 14.3 per 1,000 live births, a decrease
from 16.3 per 1000 live births during 2002-04.
Although the Genesee County African American infant death
rate in 2005 dropped to 15.2 from 22.1 per 1,000 live births in 2004, it
continues to be more than 2 times higher than that of
Genesee
County white infants (6.3 per 1,000 live births).
A variety of activities such as REACH 2010 (Racial and Ethnic
Approaches to Community Health), Healthy Start, the Safe Sleep Initiative
and Closing the Gap have been underway in our community and focused on this
complex issue for the past several years. A major change was not expected
overnight, and a trend cannot be determined without at least 3 years’
additional data.
For more information about the activities underway to prevent
infant deaths contact the Genesee County Health Department at
(810)
257-3134.
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