Recognizing National Infant Mortality Month throughout September

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Scott County, MO -- Babies born in Missouri's Bootheel have less of a chance of surviving their first year of life than those born in many under-developed countries.

In 2013, two Southeast Missouri organizations joined together to form the backbone in the fight against infant mortality, creating Bootheel Babies and Families as a comprehensive community effort focused on reducing IMR in six Bootheel counties.

Those counties -- Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Scott and Stoddard -- represent some of the United State's worst infant mortality rates, defined as the death of children before their first birthday.

Missouri as a whole ranks 32nd in the United States with an Infant Mortality Rate of 6.6 per 1,000 live births. Mississippi is listed as 50th with the worst IMR -- 9.3. "But if you compare even the state of Mississippi with some Bootheel counties, where the Infant Mortality Rate is as high as 11.7, it's clear we're facing a critical problem in Southeast Missouri," said Cynthia Dean, chief executive officer of Missouri Bootheel Regional Consortium, one of Bootheel Babies and Families' partnering organizations.

Since 2003, more than 200 babies have died in the Bootheel -- many of them from factors related to SIDs or suffocation -- enough to fill more than two school buses. "That's 10 classrooms of children who never got to celebrate their first birthday, or attend the first day of kindergarten," said Dean.

Throughout the month of September, Bootheel Babies & Families will be recognizing National Infant Mortality Month with additional resources, education efforts and social content. "This is an opportunity to emphasize to our communities that infant mortality affects everyone," said Jayne Dees, health department director in New Madrid County, where the IMR rate is 10.7. "The impact extends across the region from an emotional, financial and relationship standpoint, not just touching individual families."

For more information or interview opportunities, please review the attached media kit or call (573) 803-0676.

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