Why are black babies twice as likely to die as white babies in the US?
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 paying for society's ills. What will we do to fix it?
Saving black babies by saving a whole neighborhood
What's behind the high black infant mortality rates? Racism, not race
Empowering moms – and dads – in the black infant mortality crisis
Moving from talk to action on black infant mortality plan
Health educator Cecie Trujillo holds 2-month-old Tray'von Lynn, son of class attendee Tamika Rosser. Inglewood-based Great Beginnings for Black Babies aims to reduce infant mortality through support like this class. Maya Sugarman/KPCC
It’s not easy to talk about infant mortality rates, but one ugly statistic is causing alarm: black babies around the country are twice as likely as white babies to die before their first birthday.
In Los Angeles county, they’re three times as likely to not make it to one year. In Oakland, the rate is up to four times.
This problem has persisted for decades, but why? And what’s being done to try to close the gap? KPCC early childhood reporter Priska Neely has been tackling the issue in a series of reporting and joins us to talk about it.
Have you or someone you know experienced this loss? How has it impacted your life? Call us at 866-893-5722 to share your stories or comment below.
With guest host Libby Denkmann
[This story was originally published by KPCC.]