Infant mortality is a crucial indicator of a nation's health care system and people’s well-being. The United States has recently recorded a high disparity of infant mortality rates. According to national and state-level data, black infants have recorded twice the number of infant mortality rates experienced by white infants. It is a threat to American black infants' health and well-being and shows the healthcare delivery gap. The latter also implies a socially disadvantaged group; black women receive less care during their pregnancy period than white pregnant women, which results in high rates of black infant mortality rates experienced in the United States ( Cain, 2008 ). Few studies have explored the ideal situation of trends and socio-demographics contributing to differentials in infant mortality rates. Poor healthcare access for black women during the pregnancy period is the chief cause of high infant deaths. Some impacts of poor healthcare access include congenital malformations, maternal pregnancy complications, pattern birth, and low birth weight.
According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), inadequate healthcare services to black pregnant women and infants promotes high death risks for children under one year. The mortality rates are not equal across racial groups; black infants have been more compared to white infants ( Singh & Yu, 2019 ). African Americans have recorded the highest infant mortality rates than all other ethnic or racial groups in the United States. The aforementioned raises concern for probe into the issue and establishing future strategies to curb the rising African American infant mortality rates. Pregnancy related complications and high rates of preterm births contribute to nearly two-thirds of the total population of infant mortality rates experienced in the United States. Structural racism is persistent in healthcare systems, thus prompting disparities in infant mortality rates. The major cause of high infant mortality rates for African American women is poor quality care and less support during birth.
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References
Cain, C. (2008). Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses . National Centre for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved 6 February 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2638/.
Singh, G. K., & Yu, S. M. (2019). Infant Mortality in the United States, 1915-2017: Large Social Inequalities Have Persisted for Over a Century. International Journal of MCH and AIDS , 8 (1), 19–31. https://doi.org/10.21106/ijma.271
