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 For the first time in 40 years, the infant mortality rate in the U.S. has increased, with seven out of every 1,000 children born in America dying within their first year of life, according to the annual report "America’s Health: State Health Rankings," issued by the United Health Foundation, together with the American Public Health Association (APHA) and Partnership for Prevention. The report, available online at http://www.unitedhealthfoundation.org, was released at the APHA meeting in Washington, D.C. on November 8. Infant mortality is one of the more sensitive measures of a community’s health since data can be tracked in increments of months as opposed to years, said Georges Benjamin, executive director of APHA at a press conference. He pointed to a number of factors that may be associated with the increase, including women receiving less prenatal care or losing their jobs, cuts to nutrition programs, and climbing poverty rates. A commentary published in the report pointed to an increase in premature births as a culprit, too. The U.S. infant mortality rate is about double the rate found in Hong Kong (3.1) and Japan (3.4), according to "America’s Health." Those numbers were drawn from a 1999 report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In that NCHS survey, the U.S. ranked 28th among 37 nations. "America’s Health: State Health Rankings" uses 18 measures that include prevalence of smoking, high school graduation rates, infant mortality rates, premature death, and per capita public health spending to produce a composite assessment of each state’s health. Authors of the report draw on information from sources such as the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Labor and the National Safety Council. Led by the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a panel of public health scholars oversees the methodology for the rankings, and an independent research group analyzes the data to author the report. Reed Tuckson, vice president of United Health Foundation, pointed out that the subtitle of the report is "A Call to Action for People and Their Communities." That may be because there is bad news on other fronts as well. Since 1990, the prevalence of obesity has increased by 97 percent, and the number of uninsured rose by 16 percent, according to the report. Since just last year, there was an eight percent increase in the number of children living in poverty. These unsettling statistics emerge against a backdrop in which improvements to the overall health of the nation have slowed dramatically since 2000. During the 1990s, health in the United States advanced by an annual rate of 1.5 percent each year, according to the report. However, during the 2000s, health improvement in the country slowed to an annual rate of only 0.2 percent each year–1/8th the rate of the 1990s. Top 10 Healthiest States 1. Minnesota Bottom 10 Healthiest States 41. North
Carolina Rankings according to "America’s Health: State Health Rankings 2004" by the United Health Foundation. Harvard Public Health NOW is published biweekly by the Office of Communications Harvard School of Public Health 665 Huntington Ave., SPH 1-1312 Boston, Massachusetts 02115 617-432-6052 Editor and Layout: Christina Roache Contributing Writers: Michael Lasalandra and Eileen McCluskey Photos Credits: John Drew Photography and Video Production; Jowdy Photography; and Suzanne Camarata Archived Issues || HSPH Home Copyright, 2009, President and Fellows of Harvard College |
