Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — The Kansas Blue Ribbon Panel on Infant Mortality was formed in 2009 to help find ways to reverse the state's alarmingly high infant death rates.

The panel — 16 volunteers from state, local and private organizations who have a broad range of expertise in maternal child health — has met semi-monthly and in February released its “Road Map for Preventing Infant Mortality in Kansas.”

By 2012, a road map goal is to have, targeted community-based programs operating within the state’s high-risk zip codes (PDF).

Because better understanding of neighborhood-specific causes of the problem are needed to craft solutions, information gathering and data collection are essential first steps.

The panel’s recommended initiatives also include:

• Collaboration with providers of pregnancy and infant health care to assess and improve their programs.

• Support for partner efforts already underway.

• A multi-year, statewide infant mortality public awareness campaign.

Five of the state’s 1,121 zip codes had 20 or more black infant deaths from 1998 to 2007, representing 35 percent of the total black infant deaths in the state.

In those years, they were 66101, 66102 and 66104 in Kansas City; 66605 in Topeka; and 67214 in Wichita.

Given tight state and federal budgets, Cooley said, working with existing groups to reach expecting and new mothers with health care and information is central to the panel's recommendations. He cited the SIDS Network, March of Dimes and local health departments.

Other groups include: Healthy Start Home Visitor Services, the Maternal and Infant/Perinatal Services, SafeKids, Text4baby.org and KanQuit, the state tobacco cessation program.

Likewise, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment plans to work with existing groups to collect data on community-specific causes of infant mortality.

KDHE spokesperson Miranda Myrick said that broader, existing data-collection programs could contribute to better understanding of the causes of infant mortality in Kansas. In addition to the Fetal-Infant Mortality Review and the newly expanded access to birth certificate information, Myrick cited:

• The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System,

• The Child Death Review Board,

• The Birth Defects Surveillance System (PDF), and

• The Newborn Screening Program.

“KDHE is looking for innovative ways to use resources we already have in order to better understand the conditions and glean points of intervention in a way that does not require new funds,” Myrick said.

The department hopes next year to secure federal funding for The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, or PRAMS.

PRAMS uses a 50-page survey (PDF) to ask thousands of new and expectant mothers questions about diet, exercise, access to health care, maternal mood, and the home environment. It also asks about factors commonly associated with infant mortality such as smoking, alcohol consumption, folic acid intake and the baby's sleeping habits.

This is the first year Kansas was eligible for federal funding to conduct the surveys. KDHE applied for a $153,393 in January but recently learned that its application was denied.

Related stories:

→ Kansas has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the U.S.

→ Kansas black infant mortality rate worst in the country

→ National spokesperson on infant mortality to tour Kansas

Crisis in the Crib: Saving Our Nation's Babies from Kansas Health Institute on Vimeo.

Infant Mortality for the African-American community is a pressing, but often overlooked, health disparity. The rate of death for black babies before their first birthday is twice the rate of white babies and greatly outpaces the national average. For some communities these deaths can seem like a normal part of life, but they are strong indicators of the health of the community. Produced by the Office of Minority Health, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services