Minnesota Summit Aims to Boost Black Infants’ Survival Rate
ST. PAUL (AP) — Health care providers, social workers and community members are working to address a disparity of infancy deaths between babies born to black women and babies born to white women in Minnesota.
State health officials say babies born to black women in Minnesota are more than twice as likely to die during infancy as babies born to white women.
A summit in St. Paul on Thursday aims to find a way to boost black infants' chance of survival.
Minnesota Department of Human Services Medicial Director Jeff Schiff says one emerging theory suggests black women have more difficult pregnancies because they experience more stress.
Schiff says other states have decreased the infant mortality rate by treating mothers of color early in their pregnancies and giving them social support.
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