Give All Babies A Fair Chance

July 20, 1997

The Chicago Department of Public Health issued some good news last week: Fewer babies here are dying before their first birthdays than at any time since the city began modern recordkeeping in 1960.

In fact, the city's infant mortality rate has been in a fairly steady decline over the last 36 years, dropping from almost 30 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1960 to just over 10 per 1,000 in 1996. And while that's certainly cause for cheer, a closer look at the numbers gives us reason for pause, as well.

Chicago still has a higher infant mortality rate than the nation as a whole (with slightly more than seven deaths per 1,000 live births), and that national figure doesn't measure up to those in some other countries.

But more disturbing still is the comparatively high rate of local infant deaths among African-American babies. They die at a rate of 17 per 1,000 live births, compared with 5.5 per 1,000 for non-Hispanic white babies and 6.5 for Hispanic babies.

Such a figure is unacceptably high in a city renowned for its medical expertise and high-tech hospitals. But the reasons for the gap in mortality rates are about as low-tech as you can get: poverty, behavior patterns, stress.

Statistically, African-American women are more likely to be poor than white women. And while poverty doesn't guarantee a sickly infant, it does mean the mother is less likely to get prenatal care and more likely to engage in behavior that could put her baby at risk for medical problems.

Lack of prenatal care and risky behavior (such as smoking, drinking and taking drugs) also are linked, since many women who do not seek medical care may simply not know the damage their habits could be doing to their babies.

The Department of Public Health, while continuing its outreach and education programs to help low-income women get prenatal care, should also be trying a variety of approaches, including community-based mentor programs and church groups.

What's more, recent research indicates that another risk factor for unborn babies is stress, from which black women suffer (regardless of socio-economic status) more than the population at large. That means stress reduction should be a routine part of prenatal care, particularly for African-American women.

High technology has done its part to lower the infant mortality rate by keeping alive premature infants who would have been lost a decade ago, but now it's low technology's turn. The city must spread the word: If you're pregnant, see a doctor; if you want a healthy baby, act like it.