Better Newspaper Contest

Page 7 Every year, about 600 Indiana babies die before their first birthdays. That's enough to fill 33 kindergarten classrooms or 11 school buses. A baby dies about every 14 hours in this state. Indiana has the eighth-highest infant mortality rate in the nation, with more than seven babies losing their lives for every 1,000 live births. Only Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia and Kentucky do worse. Indiana is the farthest north of any state in the bottom 10 — and the only one in the Midwest on that list. If the state lowered its rate to the national average, 118 infants would be saved every year. If Indiana had the same rate as the best-performing state, California, 275 fewer infants would die annually. If Indiana was on par with Finland, 471 more babies would survive past their first birthdays. The fact that many of these deaths are preventable raises these questions: How many dead infants are we willing to accept? And why is our infant death rate so high? "This measure is the lens to the health of our state," said Dr. Jennifer Walthall, the former deputy state health commissioner and secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. State fares poorly in many health measures Consider these facts: • Indiana finished 39th out of 50 in the United Health Foundation's 2016 America's Health Rankings. The state ranked near the bottom in many areas that are risk factors for infant mortality: air pollution (47th), smoking (39th), diabetes (37th), obesity (36th), childhood poverty (32nd) and low birth weight (25th). • Indiana ranked 43rd for women's health and 33rd in infant health. Less than a third of children younger than age 5 live in a protective home environment. The state also had the eighth-highest rates of female obesity and physical inactivity, and ranked in the bottom 10 for women's community and environment, clinical care, health behaviors and policy. • Indiana ranked 49th in public health funding, spending $41 per capita in state and federal dollars. The U.S. average is $94, while the top state — Alaska — spends $261. "We're so far behind in public health in general," said Gabriel Filippelli, director of the Center for Urban Health at Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis. "It's no surprise we had zero schools of public health until four years ago. Our public health professionals were not well trained in public health." In 2013, the Indiana State Department of Health declared that reducing infant deaths would be its top priority. The Indiana Legislature has since allocated more than $17 million to fight infant mortality. That money has gone toward grants to nonprofits, the development of a mobile app for pregnant women and a marketing campaign that focused on safe sleep practices and the importance of prenatal care. Despite these efforts, Indiana's infant death rate per 1,000 live births actually rose to 7.3 in 2015 from 7.1 in 2013. The health department contends that the rate is down from 7.7 in 2011, and its work has helped reduce the African-American infant death rate, the percentage of women who smoke during pregnancy and the number of preterm births, said spokeswoman Jennifer O'Malley. She also noted that there are now fewer elective deliveries and more babies with low birth weights being born in the proper facilities. Babies die for any number of complex reasons. Many were delivered prematurely or low weight. Poverty, stress, nutrition, pollution and access to health care can all be contributing factors. "It's such a hard nut to crack," said Dr. Debra Litzelman, a professor and researcher with the IU School of Medicine. "In Indiana, we rank poorly in so many areas: smoking, obesity, mental health, alcoholism, substance abuse, access to care. Each one of those is a cumulative risk for infant mortality. "But many of the programs only focus on one thing. If you only focus on smoking, and a woman has nothing to eat, that's not going to change her health. If you only focus on safe sleep and not domestic violence and mental health, you're not going to make an impact." The state of Indiana released a report in 2014 that examined the predictors of infant mortality. It found that the baby of a mother on Medicaid who is between the age of 15 and 20 and goes to fewer than 10 prenatal visits is at the highest risk for death. While these babies account for only 1.6 percent of the births in Indiana, they make up nearly half of the deaths. The fact that so many of these mothers are on government- sponsored insurance shows the degree to which this is an economic issue that affects us all: A premature or low-weight birth costs $54,149, or 12 times more than an uncomplicated delivery, according to the March of Dimes. 'You can't blame the women' "You don't want to point a finger at women. You can't blame the women," said Jack Turman, a maternal and child health expert at Indiana State University. "People living in poverty account for a very high percentage of people who are suffering from infant mortality. You have the issue of poverty. People living in poverty don't have access to good food. If they do, they don't know how to prepare it. People in poverty have a high risk of living with chronic stress — which changes the immune system, hormones, the cardiovascular system, the reproductive system, leading to poor birth outcomes." Dr. Sue Ellen Braunlin, co- president of the Indiana Religious Coalition for Reproductive Justice, said she was disappointed that Indiana's first infant mortality summit in 2013 focused so much on women's behaviors rather than the social determinants of health. "It was very one-sided, and blaming and shaming women for eating too much and for not sleeping right and being in violent situations," she said. "A lot of these women have no choice. They live in food deserts and have no money for fresh vegetables. They can't always go on bed rest when doctors tell them to." Braunlin believes the state's policies on social issues contribute to infant deaths. Indiana's tight restrictions on abortion access make it more likely that low- income women will have unwanted pregnancies and deliver babies they're unable to care for, she said. And she asserted that Indiana's abstinence-only sex education contributes to the state's high teen birth rate; teens are the age group most likely to lose a baby. Two-year-old Noah Stone-Hall and his 1-year-old sister, Skyla, wait for their parents to finish a parenting workshop in Washington, Indiana. Damian Rico, The Times The focus on women also lets men off the hook. "We do know that when fathers are involved as supportive partners, the infant mortality rate does decrease," said Waldo Johnson, a professor at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago. "A father can be there to listen, to soothe the mother when she is anxious, to encourage her to go to prenatal visits, to make sure she's eating more fruits and vegetables and less processed food." Race a factor A Times analysis of state mortality statistics shows that a mother's location and race greatly affect her risk of losing a baby. "Your ZIP code matters more than your genetic code," said Dr. Anthony Iton, senior vice president of the California Endowment. "Where you live predicts how long you will live." Story of the Year For the complete story, visit hspa.com. Giles Bruce The Times (Munster) What's Killing Indiana's Infants? Division 6

• Cover