APHA: U.S. Infant Mortality Rate Up for First Time in Four Decades

[bemildred]

This is big, read Emmanuel Todd's "After The Empire".

For the first time in 40 years, the infant mortality rate in the U.S. has increased, with seven out of every 1,000 children born in America dying within their first year of life, according to the annual report "America’s Health: State Health Rankings," issued by the United Health Foundation, together with the American Public Health Association (APHA) and Partnership for Prevention. The report, available online at http://www.unitedhealthfoundation.org, was released at the APHA meeting in Washington, D.C. on November 8.

Infant mortality is one of the more sensitive measures of a community’s health since data can be tracked in increments of months as opposed to years, said Georges Benjamin, executive director of APHA at a press conference. He pointed to a number of factors that may be associated with the increase, including women receiving less prenatal care or losing their jobs, cuts to nutrition programs, and climbing poverty rates. A commentary published in the report pointed to an increase in premature births as a culprit, too.

The U.S. infant mortality rate is about double the rate found in Hong Kong (3.1) and Japan (3.4), according to "America’s Health." Those numbers were drawn from a 1999 report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In that NCHS survey, the U.S. ranked 28th among 37 nations.

"America’s Health: State Health Rankings" uses 18 measures that include prevalence of smoking, high school graduation rates, infant mortality rates, premature death, and per capita public health spending to produce a composite assessment of each state’s health. Authors of the report draw on information from sources such as the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Labor and the National Safety Council. Led by the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a panel of public health scholars oversees the methodology for the rankings, and an independent research group analyzes the data to author the report.

Harvard

[cornermouse]

1. This should be read.

[philb]

2. A study by the Nat. Academy of Sciences a few years stated 50% of U.S.

births during the last decade resulted in birth defects or developmental disabilities such as
autism, ADHD, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, learning disabilities, eczema, asthma, Cystic Fibrosis, or other chronic
conditions. It has also been documented that the majority were caused by toxic exposures, with toxic metals, vaccinations that contained high levels of mercury thimerosal and aluminum and formaldehyde, and pesticide exposures being responsible for the majority.
http://www.flcv.com/tmlbn.html
http://www.flcv.com/kidshg.html
http://www.flcv.com/pesticid.html

Fortunately many of these conditions are treatable and curable(even cystic fibrosis and autism) but unfortunately not many doctors know how to test for what caused the condition and how to treat the condition.

But some do, and there is information available to those who know how to look for it and who know how to determine
what can be believed from the vast amount of info out there. And there are non-profit organizations such as DAMS, ARI,etc.
and disease condition groups of parents of kids with chronic conditions(such as yahoo groups) that one can get reliable information from. There are researchers with considerable background(many like myself who are gov't researchers) who provide support to such organizations and groups on a voluntary basis. We have a huge amount of Gov't agency research and info from conferences, hearings, databases,etc. to draw from.

[Crunchy Frog]

3. This happened in the Soviet Union before it collapsed.

I just thank God that the pro-lifers will soon be clamoring to increase spending on prenatal care for poor women, and increased nutritional support for pregnant women and young mothers, so that thousands of innocent little babies can be saved.:sarcasm:

[bemildred]

4. Exactly.

Emmanuel Todd predicted the decline of the USSR in the 1970s based on the reversal of the decline in their infant mortality rates, taking it as an indicator of the decay of civil society.