Given the county’s focus on the issue in recent years, the lack of progress is notable.
Black babies in Wake County are six times more likely to die before they reach their first birthday than white babies.
Five practical takeaways from reporting on how communities are tackling persistent disparities in infant mortality, in the midst of newsroom downsizing and shifting beats.
North Carolina's high infant mortality rate has been the topic of official state reports and politicians' denunciations since I've been a reporter here — more than 20 years.
The free state-funded service explores how racism can contribute to the early death of black babies.
It's a high-stakes problem lawmakers across the country are increasingly trying to address.
This article was produced as a project for the 2017 California Data Fellowship, a program of the USC Center for Health Journalism.
This project received support from the Center for Health Journalism's California Fellowship and its Fund for Journalism on Child Well-being.
Other stories in the series include:
Black babies die at twice the rate of white babies. My family is part of this statistic
America's black babies are pay
The Castlemont neighborhood in East Oakland is known as a Best Babies Zone. The idea of this initiative is that improving life for everyone in the community will ultimately save babies.
It's one thing to identify the complex social cause of this crisis. It's far harder to combat racism and stop more babies from dying.
