U.S. INFANT-DEATH RATE ITS LOWEST EVER

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 7, 1992                   TAG: 9202070073
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                LENGTH: Medium
U.S. INFANT-DEATH RATE ITS LOWEST EVER
The United States recorded its lowest infant mortality rate ever - but black babies still die at more than twice the rate of whites, and the nation trails much of the developed world, federal researchers said Thursday.
The rate for 1989, the most recent year for which statistics are available, was 9.8 deaths by age 1 for every 1,000 live births, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said. That surpasses the record of 10.0 set the previous year.
Japan had the world's lowest infant mortality rate, 5.0 for 1987, the latest year for which complete international statistics have been compiled. Sweden was second at 5.7. The United States that year was 24th at 10.1, just behind New Zealand and just ahead of Israel.
"Our international ranking has slipped," said Dr. Marian MacDorman of the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. "In 1980, we were ranked 20th in the world, and now we're 24th."
The CDC said increased use of prenatal care would have the greatest impact on infant deaths.
The U.S. infant mortality rate has dropped significantly throughout the 20th century, although the decline has slowed in the last decade.
"The simple reason infant mortality rates have gone down is that medical technology has gotten better and better," said Joseph Liu, a senior health associate with the Children's Defense Fund, a non-profit children's advocacy group.
"We have done absolutely nothing to make sure pregnant women can get prenatal care," he said. "We are relying on the miracle of modern technology to save very sick babies, while failing to provide up-front preventive care to make sure more babies are born healthy."
For 1989, the black infant mortality rate in the United States was 18.6, compared with 8.1 for whites. The leading cause of death for white infants was birth defects; for black infants, it was prematurity or low birth weight.
Keywords:
FATALITY

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB