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Hamilton County records record-low number of infant deaths in 2020
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14-week-old Melinda Star Guido holds her mother s finger while lying in an incubator at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
and last updated 2021-04-19 19:37:42-04
CINCINNATI â Despite the many struggles of 2020, Greater Cincinnati made progress in one important area.
Hamilton County had a record-low infant mortality rate last year, according to Cradle Cincinnati, a community advocacy group working to reduce infant mortality.
Years of effort brought down the number of infant deaths in Hamilton County to a record low in 2020, the nonprofit group leading the campaign reported Monday.
Cradle Cincinnati, an 8-year-old collaboration across the county, said in its annual report that 76 babies died before their first birthdays last year, the lowest number since modern records were established in 1968. The infant mortality rate was 7.4 deaths for every 1,000 births, an 18% drop from the combined rate of the previous five years.
Hamilton County’s rate still exceeds the national infant mortality rate, which in 2018 was 5.7 deaths for every 1,000 births. But when Cradle Cincinnati was created in 2013, Hamilton County saw more than 10 baby deaths for every 1,000 live births.
20 years since the civil unrest, how close is Cincinnati to achieving equity? This mom says not very It s an endless cycle
Courtesy of LaVenia Jones
and last updated 2021-04-08 05:00:38-04
Twenty years ago, in the early morning hours of April 7, 2001, Cincinnati Police Officer Stephen Roach shot and killed 19-year-old Timothy Thomas in an Over-the-Rhine alley. Thomas was the 15th Black man killed by police since 1995, and his death sparked days of unrest that highlighted a deep divide between Cincinnatiâs Black community and the police. That mistrust, along with lawsuits accusing the department of a decades-long history of racial profiling, helped shape the Collaborative Agreement. We hope our coverage online, on air and on all streaming platforms will start a conversation about what led to the unrest, what has happened since and what work remains to be done.
Interim Director Tim McCartney recently presented the plan to the Board of Commissioners. The campaign very much supports the board s agenda of reducing infant mortality but also addressing racism as a public health crisis, McCartney said.
McCartney says the campaign will share the ABCs of Safe Sleep: that infants are safest
alone, on their
crib. And importantly, as it relates to the Office of Equity and Inclusion in Hamilton County, 60% of the total spend of the design of the campaign will support African American businesses, McCartney said.
The county is partnering with Cradle Cincinnati on the safe sleep campaign. Director of Community Strategies Dr. Meredith Shockley-Smith says sleep is a cultural conversation for Black women.