Area leaders discuss infant mortality rate

Feb. 15--Toledo is now one of the Ohio cities that's being targeted for improvement in infant mortality rates.

Representatives from a statewide infant mortality prevention campaign met with Toledo elected and health officials on Tuesday to discuss improving outcomes for local mothers and babies.

Our Babies Count is an education and awareness effort conducted in partnership with the Ohio Department of Medicaid, the state's five Medicaid managed care plans, Black Doctors Ohio, and the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The campaign serves as a clearing house for resources and information about healthy pregnancies and babies, and works with programs in nine metro areas including Lucas that were selected because of high infant mortality rates.

In Lucas County, that's the Getting to 1 program, which is coordinated through the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department and the Hospital Council's Northwest Ohio Pathways HUB.

Our Babies Count representatives are meeting with similar programs in the other targeted metro areas, which include Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, and Youngstown.

"We're working with community organizations to bring awareness to the community and these moms that care is out there," said Julie Lindsay, manager of case management for Paramount, one of the insurers to partner through Our Babies Count.

The infant mortality rate in Ohio was 7.2 per 1,000 live births in 2015, according to the most recent data available from the Ohio Department of Health, up from 6.8 in 2014. Lucas County mirrors statewide disparate outcomes between white and black babies.

Ohio's white infant mortality rate in 2015 was 5.5 per 1,000 live births, compared with a black infant mortality rate of 15.1, meaning black babies died at nearly three times the rate that white babies did.

In Lucas County, the rate for black babies was 16.8 per 1,000 live births, compared with 1.6 for white babies.

For more information about infant mortality and available resources, visit OurBabiesCount.org or healthylucascounty.org/getting-to-1.

Contact Lauren Lindstrom at [email protected], 419-724-6154, or on Twitter @lelindstrom.

Related Items

infant mortality rate, Lauren Lindstrom, toledo-lucas county health department, Our Babies Count, Ohio Department of Medicaid, Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio, Northwest Ohio Pathways HUB, Black Doctors Ohio

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