KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Kalamazoo County is a much safer place to have to a baby, and that is that is a big change for the better.
Cradle Kalamazoo has just released their latest infant mortality numbers from 2022 to 2024. That’s an organization that was specifically formed years ago to address an abnormally high local infant death rate that had persisted for decades.
The death rate for first year infants in Kalamazoo was 4.5 per thousand live births, and while that’s a sad number, it’s well below the statewide figure, which was 6.3 per 1,000 during that two-year period.
The mortality rate for white babies in Kalamazoo was 2.8 per 1000 and 7 per 1000 for Black babies.
Tami Rey, a community health resources manager who sits on their administrative team, says it’s encouraging news.
The numbers show that while that racial disparity hasn’t been eliminated, it has been reduced.
Board vice chair John Taylor announced the results at this week’s county commission meeting.
County commissioner John Gisler commented.
Those rates may be even lower now. Those statistics predate the introduction of the pilot Rx Kids program in the city of Kalamazoo, which provides all new parents with a monthly stipend to help them cover costs and get better health care, before and during the first year of parenthood.
It is just one of many programs that have been introduced here by Kalamazoo County, the city of Kalamazoo, and Cradle Kalamazoo to help new moms have healthier babies.
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