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Ohioans know our state has its challenges, but generally speaking we think of ourselves as better off than those in some other parts of the country -- or world. For our youngest and most vulnerable residents, that is not always the case. Given the number of politicians who want us to believe the lives of babies are of the utmost important to them, it is astounding that the infant mortality rate here is STILL considerably above the national average.
Efforts to address the problem have made some progress. We are down to 6.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in Ohio, compared with the national average of 5.36, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The tragedy grows even deeper for non-white Buckeye State residents. While the infant mortality rate for white infants is 5.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, for Black infants the rate is a horrifying 12.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. For Hispanic infants, the rate is 6.7, according to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal.
Advocates suggest there is a lack of access to patient-centered care and education here that is not a problem in other states.
Richard Stacklin, a senior director for First Year Cleveland, told the Capital Journal Black residents of Cuyahoga County face an even higher infant mortality rate, and that parents report negative interactions with medical professionals before and during the birthing process.
"Women were not heard, they were disrespected, religious beliefs were not taken into account in some cases," he said.
Mothers who feel dismissed by providers or experience racism in the healthcare system gain another level of stress during what is already a tenuous time for maternal and infant health, according to Maleka James, infant mortality initiatives manager at Dayton Children's Hospital.
"Access alone is not enough," she said.
Meanwhile lawmakers reduced funding for an "infant vitality" budget line item in the most recent state operating budget; and provided $5 million for maternal health programs "by community and local faith-based service providers," as opposed to the $7.5 million Gov. Mike DeWine had proposed.
A $1 million provision to provide non-medical services at residential infant care centers was removed from the budget before it was finalized, according to the Capital Journal.
Again: Ohio infants die at a greater rate than those in the United States as a whole. That should inspire the kind of rage and action our politicians seem capable of drumming up only when we're talking about the period before the baby is born.
"If we say we care about our moms and babies, we should establish policies that take care of our most vulnerable during their most vulnerable times," Stacklin told the Capital Journal.
How heartbreaking that it needs to be explained at all.