Like many expectant mothers, Renee Schoolfield had worries and questions about her baby’s health. But her pregnancy was partly shadowed by her experiences in 2018, when she lost two children months apart shortly after they were born.
North Carolina has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the nation. As is the case in the rest of the country, African-American babies die at twice the rate of white babies.
North Carolina has one of the worst records in the nation for the deaths of children a year or younger. The rate of black babies’ deaths is a big reason.
State programs and efforts by private organizations have reduced North Carolina’s infant mortality rate to its lowest ever, but the state still has a stubborn problem with high levels of black infant mortality.
Deaths of African-American babies declined most quickly in states that expanded Medicaid coverage, researchers have found. North Carolina isn’t one of those states.
Black babies in Wake County are six times more likely to die before they reach their first birthday than white babies.