Franklin County Infant Mortality Rates

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COLUMBUS —
One of Ohio's largest counties is failing to provide adequate care for pregnant women, contributing to a high infant mortality rate, according to a report released to ONN from a health care group that focuses on maternal and child health.

Nine of every 1,000 babies born in Franklin County, which includes Columbus, die before they turn one-year-old, a rate that continues to worry health advocates, The Council on Healthy Mothers and Babies said in the report on Friday.

Public health officials consider the infant mortality rate to be the top measurement of a community's health. The national goal for 2010 is 4.5 babies for every 1,000. In European countries, the rate is generally 4 or less, according to 2006 numbers from the World Health Organization.

Members of the Columbus-based group met on Friday with local social service and health care workers, as well as officials from Columbus Public Health, to discuss the findings.

Many pregnant women in Franklin County suffer from substandard advice and a lack of care, lowering the odds of survival for infants, the group's analysis said.

Pregnant women waited an average of almost 20 days for their first prenatal care visits, far longer than the recommended five days. Less than a third of women in public clinics are treated in their first trimester.

The county's capacity to care for pregnant women dropped from about 1,500 appointments per month in 2003 to about 1,000 appointments last year.

Even when they make appointments, many women end up missing them. Pregnant women missed more than a quarter of their appointments at public health care providers last year. Others were late or unprepared for the visit, and some lacked a means of transportation.

"We have to face up to the fact that we can do better," said Dr. Robert Crane, a family medicine specialist at Ohio State University Medical Center. "We need to talk about how we get to a more ideal world where pregnancy is given the respect it deserves."

The council also found that black babies are more than twice as likely to die in their first year as white babies, with a rate of 16.3 deaths per 1,000 children. The rate for white babies in 2006
was 6.4 deaths per 1,000 children.

At the same time, birth numbers are increasing in the county, which raises more concerns that the troubling trends will continue, said Carolyn Slack, director of the health department's maternal and child health division.

One program, the Pregnancy Care Connection, helps women who are Medicaid-eligible and uninsured find prenatal care. The group schedules about 75 initial obstetric appointments per week. But the effort, founded in 2002, hasn't been enough.

Health advocates like The Council on Healthy Mothers and Babies need to be more vocal in demanding state and local funding for programs benefiting pregnant women and babies in the county, Columbus councilwoman Charleta Tavares said.