KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – A high infant mortality rate is something the healthcare community in Kalamazoo has been battling for decades, but significant strides could be coming in 2025.
Some progress has been made, thanks to groups like Cradle Kalamazoo, which has coordinated local efforts to erase the most vexing statistic, that babies of color stand a smaller chance of surviving their first year.
K-Med’s Nia Evans is co-coordinator of the local Fetal Infant Mortality Review. She says the gap has persisted, even as death rates have dropped.
She says only one group has defied all efforts to reduce the death rate.
Co-coordinator Brenda O’Rorke with the Kalamazoo County Health Department says they have concluded that it’s due to a failure to communicate between medical professionals, pregnancy advocates and their patients, including information on the most preventable cause of infant death, safe sleep.
Early this year, Kalamazoo will become one of only two communities in the state to implement RX Kids, a program that guarantees a small income for all pregnant women.
The Kalamazoo Foundation’s Alyssa Stewart says pregnancies come at a time when young families are least able to cope economically.
The strategy will be closely studied to see if it has an impact on not just infant mortality, but the overall health of Kalamazoo’s youngest residents.
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