Infant Mortality Rate Increases Slightly in Forsyth County

The number of infant deaths in Forsyth County increased slightly in 2015.

But county officials say they're showing improvement in reducing infant mortality rates for minorities.

Forsyth County reported a 2015 infant death rate of 7.1 deaths per 1,000 live births. That's according to information from the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics.

Forsyth County health officials aren't exactly sure why it increased. They say they've made lots of progress over the past five years. One area that's seen improvement is in reducing disparities in rates among minorities.

“Around ten years ago, black babies died at a rate of three times of white babies," says Rodd Smith, director of the Infant Mortality Reduction Coalition with the Forsyth County Department of Public Health. "Five years ago, that rate was somewhere around two times, and now that rate [is] less than two times, so we are excited about that progress in reducing that disparity.”

Smith credits the success to more community outreach programs offered to parents during and after pregnancy. Those programs include providing cribs to families that need them in some communities and free in-home nurse visits to all mothers with newborns who reside in Forsyth County.

“We're not treating all women as if they are all women, rather addressing their individual health needs, their individual health concerns and in general, just provide more support.”

North Carolina's overall infant mortality rate was 7.3 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015. That's also a small increase over the previous year.

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