Among Mississippi’s many longstanding health problems, one that particularly stands out is its chronically high infant mortality rate.
When children die within their first year of being born, it’s frequently because their mothers were not able to provide the child growing within their womb with adequate nurturing, either because of neglect or because of limited access to health care.
Recently released data shows that in this state, for every 1,000 live births, 9 or 10 of the babies will die within their first year. That rate is nearly double the national average.
In some areas of Mississippi — especially the most sparsely populated and poorest areas of the Delta — the rates are more than three times the national average. For the 10-year period ending in 2021, Issaquena County had the state’s highest infant mortality rate, averaging 18.7 deaths per 1,000 live births, followed by Humphreys County at 16.9 and Quitman County at 15.8.
Closer to home, both Leflore and Carroll counties were right at about the state average — which, again, is nothing to brag about, since the state average is about double the national rate.
The scary thing is this data does not take into account yet the likely detrimental impact of hospitals, such as Greenwood Leflore, deciding since 2021 to get out of the baby-delivering business for financial reasons.
Dr. Anita Henderson, a Mississippi pediatrician and a past president of the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told Mississippi Today that more than half of the counties in Mississippi now do not have an obstetrician or a hospital that delivers babies.
For people of means, this scarcity may not be an issue, particularly if they were always planning to get their prenatal care and have their baby delivered in Jackson or another large city. But for the poor, particularly those with limited transportation, the absence of a safe delivery option near their home could be life-threatening both for the child and for the mother.
Dr. Daniel Edney, the state health officer, has been particularly worried about babies born prematurely or with major health issues when the nearest neonatal intensive care unit is a couple of hours away. He has been working on a proposal to evacuate high-risk pregnant women who live in rural areas to Jackson or out of state for delivery on the chance that there could be complications.
That’s going to be costly, just in terms of the air or ground ambulance charges, not to mention a logistical challenge for the pregnant woman’s family, but what other compassionate options are there?
Mississippi had an unacceptably high rate of infant mortality when most hospitals delivered babies. It’s almost certain to get higher as maternity wards keep disappearing in areas where there was already a greater risk of delivery complications.
