Why is infant mortality still a U.S. problem?

The U.S. infant mortality rate is one of the highest among all developed countries. The disparity in rates within the United States is alarming as well, with black babies dying at more than twice the rate of white babies.  The most recent statistics from 2007 show that the U.S. rate of almost seven deaths per 1,000 live births ranked the U.S. behind the majority of other developed countries. Thirty developed countries, all of who spend much less on health care than the United States, have lower infant mortality rates than the United States.   Within the United States, infant mortality ranges from a high of almost 10 deaths per 1,000 in Mississippi and Alabama to about five deaths per 1,000 in Washington and Massachusetts. Although the overall rates have been slowly declining since 2000, the huge gap between whites and blacks continues to exist. American women who are most likely to lose their babies are non-Hispanic black women, with a rate almost 2 1/2 greater than that for non-Hispanic white women.  

States and local communities vary widely in what care their leaders choose to provide to women and children which results in a wide variation in what services are provided in the four key periods in the lives of women and their children, each vital in determining whether an infant lives or dies: before pregnancy, during pregnancy, at birth and during the first year of life. Prenatal care is necessary but not sufficient to reduce the high infant mortality rates in the United States.  State infant mortality rates are associated with the quality and level of services, policies and regulations available in their communities and health delivery systems. It will take a village of support to lower infant mortality rates and improve health and development of children in the United States.