Infant Mortality as a Serious Problem in the United States

Many people ar shocked to learn this fact, particularly in light of the normally accepted view that "the United States has much(prenominal) advanced medical checkup c ar and is one of the almost affluent countries in the beingness" (Stanton, 1990, p. 37). In the words of Dr. Louis Sullivan, Secretary of the Department of Health and gentle Services, the high rate of babe destructions in the United States is " around obscene for a county with the resources we have" (Painton, 1991, p. 30).

Demographic studies on infant mortality in the United States have shown that there is a distinct racial breakdown in the frequency of its occurrence. For example, much(prenominal) studies have shown that approximately twice as many African-American infants as white infants die before the age of one. In this regard, statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services indicate that the end rate for African-American infants is 17.6 per 1,000 nascencys, whereas the rate for white American infants is only(prenominal) 8.5 per 1,000 (A few more than offset printing birth years, 1991, p. 33). It may be note that the primary cause for death in infancy is a low birth weight. Cowley (1991) has stated: "Babies with low birth weights (under 5.5 pounds) are 40 times more likely than others to die during their front month, and 20 times more likely to die within a year" (p. 20). Low birth weight has as well as been found to be related to a racial variability within America. Thus, whereas 7 percent of al

Cowley, G. (1991, Summer). Children in peril. Newsweek 117 (Summer): pp. 18-21.

Stanton (1990) has broken down the major causes of infant death by age group. Thus, it has been found that the primary causes for infant pietism are different depending upon whether the infant is less than 28 days old, or more than 28 days old. In some(prenominal) of these age categories, however, unretentive minority women continue to be the most susceptible population in terms of infant death. As noted earlier in this paper, death within the first weeks of life is most often due to low birth weight. The cause of low birth weight, in turn, is generally imput suitable to congenital defects which are passed on to the fetus while it is lighten in the mother's womb (Stanton, 1990, p. 26).

Congenital defects are caused by such things as sexually transmitted diseases, the mother's use of drugs, alcohol or cigarettes, ugly nutrition in the mother, or stress (Stanton, 1990, pp. 32-34). These factors are found in a higher percentage among poor minority women than they are among middle or upper class Caucasian women. Also, because of poverty, many minority women are not able to obtain the prenatal care that they lease in recite to be forewarned of the dangers of such things as drug use or cigarette smoking during pregnancy.

At the same time, however, it cannot be denied that many poor minority women in the United States fail to set just about prenatal care not because they lack money exactly rather because they lack information. It is apparent that social problems such as poverty and drugs can be directly related to infant mortality. It is further obvious that such social problems are more prevalent in economically depressed areas. However, such problems mightiness be overcome if poor women were better educated about their options for government sponsored care. As an underprivileged class, minority women in poor areas of the nation are often deprived of the information they need in order to make healthy decisions fo
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