“Infant mortality rates . . . an embarrassment to the United States.”

The CDC released 2006 infant mortality statistics this past week and the numbers are promising although they still show there is room for improvement.  The report states that overall infant mortality rates in the U.S. declined by 2%.  The report also shows that despite more spending on health care overall, including infant and prenatal care, the U.S. still lags behind many other industrialized countries.

The U.S. ranks 29th in the world on infant mortality rates despite spending more than any other country on health care.  The article at Medical News Today suggests “that Americans pay more for medical services than other nations but receive lower quality care. . .”

One memorable quote stated, “Infant mortality rates and our comparison with the rest of the world continue to be an embarrassment to the United States.”

Nurses Can Help Reduce the Risks of Infant Death

What can we, as nurses, nursing students, and nurse educators do to help improve infant mortality rates in our communities?  There are many disparities between socio-economic and racial divides in the report.  These divides point out opportunities for outreach to at-risk families, young mothers, and community groups. Increasing prenatal care options and reducing risk factors that cause low birth weight babies and premature births.

Plan to talk with your local civic organization, church groups, teen centers, schools, and others about safe and healthy pregnancies.  Talk to your facilities about getting trained to provide essential education to at-risk groups.  While the policy makers decide how they are going to push policy one way or another and throw more money at the problem before they come up with a real solution, we can be doing something concrete about the issue using sound nursing skills and interventions like patient education.