One of Mississippi’s many stubborn problems is that too many of its babies keep dying, and nothing has stopped that for the past decade. By some measures, it’s getting worse.
The Mississippi Today website reported last week that an increase in the infant mortality rate prompted the state Department of Health to declare a public health emergency. In 2024, the state reported its highest rate of infant deaths in over a decade.
That rate, however, is measured in the number of deaths per 1,000 infant births. It is true that saying 9.7 infants per 1,000 births died in 2024 compared to 8.7 per 1,000 in 2023 shows the statistical increase. But it’s better to illustrate the problem with the actual numbers of babies who died before their first birthday, and the Department of Health helpfully has a decade’s worth of that information on its website.
• In 2024, 323 infants in Mississippi died before their first birthday. The year before, 304 died.
• 198 of those 323 babies died within 28 days of birth in 2024, while 179 died that early in 2023.
• The other 125 babies died between 29 days old and one year in 2024. In 2023, 125 also died at that age.
• Broken down by race, 195 black babies died in 2024, along with 100 white babies, 15 Hispanic and 13 of other races. While the black infant mortality rate is nearly three times as high as it is for whites, it’s important to note that by the numbers, nearly twice as many black babies died.
• In the 11-year chart on the Department of Health website, a total of 3,527 babies have died in Mississippi before their first birthday since 2014. That’s a huge loss.
• A report on Mississippi births in 2024 from the March of Dimes rated the state an F, and justifiably so. The state had America’s highest infant mortality rate and the highest rate of pre-term births. Also, its rate of maternal deaths was well above the national average.
All newborns cannot be saved. Some are born with health problems that makes it impossible for them to survive. But Mississippi’s rates of infant deaths and birth mother deaths, so much higher than the rest of the country, make it clear that something’s wrong here.
Dr. Daniel Edney, the state health officer, told Mississippi Today that the infant mortality numbers are getting worse even though a lot of health officials are trying to improve it.
He said declaring a state of emergency will allow the Department of Health to direct more money and personnel toward the problems. He said a system to designate hospitals that deliver babies with different care levels will be completed more quickly, and transportation systems will be set up to make transfer of high-risk pregnant women to better-equipped hospitals more efficient.
All that sounds positive and hopefully will save lives. But it’s impossible to shake the feeling that there’s only so much government can do.
Many things contribute to infant mortality, such as the health of pregnant women. Also, women who ignore the basic duties of early and regular prenatal checkups are putting the life of their baby at risk. Not to mention their own.
Reducing the infant mortality rate will take more than government. Families, other individuals, private groups and the mothers themselves must get involved.
It’s probable that many of the 300-plus infants who die in Mississippi each year could have been helped, and could have survived. Statistically, these babies are no different from the terminated pregnancies whose rights the state went to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect. Mississippi needs a similar urgency toward protecting all infants who are born, along with their mothers.
— Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
