Infant Mortality is the death of an infant before their first birthday.
The mission of the Infant Mortality Network is to improve pregnancy outcomes and reduce infant mortality through community collaboration.
Tarrant County, like many other areas of the country, has a significant disparity in black-white infant mortality. While the average infant mortality rate for the country as a whole is 7.5 infant deaths/1000 live births, the rate for White infants is 7.0 while for Black infants it is 16.1.
This means that a Black infant born in Tarrant County is more than two and half times as likely to die within his or her first year as a White baby.
In August 2002, a series of articles was published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about the issue of infant mortality in our community. On September 12, 2002, Catholic Charities, with sponsorship from Cook Children’s Hospital and AmeriGroup, hosted an Infant Mortality Summit in order to raise awareness among local decision makers and initiate a community Task Force to address this important issue.
Infant mortality is a complex social problem. There is not one single cause of infant mortality or one single solution. There are economic, social, environmental and behavioral factors that can influence poor birth outcomes. Historically, most of the focus has been on the individuals role in her own health. However, a growing understanding of the role of social influences on health has broadened the responsibility for creating healthy communities.
These social influences include such factors as poverty, unemployment, racism, housing, transportation, social support, crime and other neighborhood conditions that can directly influence health behaviors and/or health outcomes.
Community Action
Addressing the health of women prior to pregnancy, offers the greatest hope for reducing the number of infant deaths in Tarrant County and improving the health of the community. Further investigation into the individual factors contributing to women’s health and high rates of premature birth in Tarrant County is required to identify the most effective strategies for our community. Implementation of the Fetal-Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) will help reveal contributing factors specific to Tarrant County.
Risk Factors – Interventions
- Affordable and safe housing
- Financial stability
- Domestic violence screening and support
- Mental health screening and support
- Good oral health
- Avoiding environmental hazards
- Smoking sessation
- Health screenings for chronic and sexually transmitted diseases
- Chronic disease management
- Vaccinations for mothers
- Having a reproductive health plan
- Family planning
- Spacing children 2-3 years apart
- Practicing safe sex
- Safe medication/herbal use
- Avoidance of illegal drugs
- Responsible use of alcohol
- Genetic testing / counseling
- Healthy weight
- Affordable and accessible preventative health care
- Healthy eating habits
- Daily multivitamin with 400mcg of folic acid.
Information is continually emerging about preconception health and effective interventions and while this list is not meant to be exhaustive, the interventions are based on the Tarrant County PPOR data, the recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Recommendations to Improve Preconception Health and Health care-United States, 2006 publication.
Although this latest report has focused on preconception health, it is important to remember that there are opportunities to reduce infant mortality during the pregnancy and post-pregnancy period. In addition to preconception recommendations, these opportunities include early access to quality medical care throughout pregnancy, timely vaccinations for infants, breast feeding, avoidance of second-hand smoke, injury prevention and safe sleeping which includes always placing babies on their back to sleep.
The Tarrant County Infant Mortality Network (“the Network”) is a community-based collaborative that works to improve pregnancy outcomes and community-based clinical and social services that support newborn babies and their families prenatally and throughout their second year of life.