The 2023 Infant and Child Mortality Data from the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force Report found a huge disparity in infant deaths in the state and that disparity is getting worse. The study revealed that, in 2023, Black infants died at rates three times higher than white infants.
The study also found that non-Hispanic Black and American Indian children have higher mortality rates compared to other racial and ethnic groups.
“When compared to other states, North Carolina had the 10th highest infant mortality rate in the country, highlighting the critical need for the Department of Health and Human Services efforts to ensure the health and well-being of children and families,” a statement from Health and Human Services noted this week after the results of the study were released.
“All babies born in North Carolina deserve a healthy start to life,” said NC Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai. “We are committed to ensuring women and families have the care and support they need prior to, during and after pregnancy, no matter where they live or how much money they make.”
State social services officials have released an updated NC Perinatal Health Strategic Plan, which details the efforts that are currently being undertaken to improve birth outcomes. Some steps have already been taken to improve the situation, including the following:
- Paid parental leave for state employees
- Medicaid reimbursement for group prenatal care and increased postpartum health care coverage for NC Medicaid beneficiaries
- North Carolina’s Healthy Opportunity Pilots program, which has addressed non-medical drivers of health – such as housing, food and transportation – in order to improve the health of women and children in our state.
For years, the Guilford County health division has been focusing in Guilford County on this problem as well. In addition to attempting to reduce infant deaths overall, a number of county programs have been implemented to close the gap in the ratio of deaths of black infants versus white infants.
At the state level, Medicaid Expansion is improving health outcomes for children and families across North Carolina.
According to the statement from the state’s Health and Human Services department, “Just over one year since North Carolina became the 41st state to expand Medicaid, more than 640,000 people have gained health care coverage, giving more people access to necessary and critical care, ultimately leading to healthier pregnancies. Studies show states that have expanded Medicaid have better maternal and infant outcomes than states that have not.”
The study also looked at trends of deaths of older children.
Here are some other key findings of the 2023 Infant and Child Mortality Data Study:
- The 2023 overall infant mortality rate in North Carolina rose slightly in 2023 from 2022 to 6.9 deaths per 1,000 births. (There have only been slight fluctuations in this number since 2010.)
- The youth suicide rate has increased over the past 20 years, with suicide being one of the leading causes of death for youth ages 10-18.
- The child homicide rate remains high due to the substantial increase in firearm-related homicides.
NCDHHS is working closely with the state’s Office of Violence Prevention and others to address the disturbing trend of increased firearm-related injuries and deaths in North Carolina.
Together with partners, the state launched a safe storage campaign that includes the distribution of gun locks and safes to community organizations and local health departments.
Also, the Office of Violence Prevention has invested in the expansion of community and hospital-based violence prevention programs.
“By working together to address and prevent violence as a public health issue, we can create safer communities where our most vulnerable populations – especially infants and children – can thrive,” said Dr. Kelly Kimple, Interim State Health Director and NCDHHS Chief Medical Officer. “By offering proven, evidence-based solutions like safe gun storage that meet children and families where they are in North Carolina’s communities, we’re working to reverse the trends in preventable child fatalities related to violence and injury.”
Sorry, it’s still early. Is this story about babies of different races or gun violence? I admit, I missed the point.
* The mortality rate for black babies is even higher still in Africa. It must be Waycism! But wait, when a country’s 99% black, who’s imposing the racism? It couldn’t be the behavior and actions of black people themselves, could it…?
* And don’t you love how every problem has a solution that benefits the people in the Public Sector? This time those in the Parasitic Sector want paid parental leave. That’s nice. When my sons were born I took two days off to make sure mother & child were okay. It was two days without earning, so I had to get back to work. Hey, I’ve got all those Public Sector benefits to pay for…. right?
It’s cause is mostly due to poverty. You know, how whites used to love to force minorities into poverty via open discrimination just one generation ago? There ya go. Or is this another opportunity for you to claim Africans are genetically inferior again?
Excuses, excuse, excuses….
When will Chris just accept the truth?
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And I have never said that Africans are inferior. Every human being has part of God’s divinity in him.
This odious little creep has a habit of deliberately putting words in your mouth in an attempt at character assassination.
But we’re all getting wise to it… and him.
You said Africans have a lower IQ due to genetics. Who is calling someone genetically less intelligent not calling the inferior?
And have yet to deny that you apply this flawed logic to African Americans which say A LOT about you.
Also funny you consider social economic circumstances ‘excuses’ but don’t deny they are true. Again, this says A LOT about your bias and disregard for our long history of racism and it’s impact on the black community.
Hmmmmm….
You’re really not very sharp, are you? The distinction escapes your obtuse intellect, but I’ll try one more time.
Africans do have the lowest average IQ of all major races. Jews have the highest. Those are factually correct statements. By your reasoning I must be a “Jewish Supremacist”…
I feel sorry for you as your publicly display the shortcomings of your intellect.
Try reading my Letter of Feb 24th again. Maybe you’ll understand it the 12th time you read it.
Yet from the mountains of sources, you claim to have to support this silly idea, you could only name a book from the mid 90s that was discredited so many times they published a book of all the articles discrediting the racist idea that Africans have are genetically less intelligent. the book and it’s findings. Not to mention that Africa is a massive continent with many races and cultures. Hmmm….wonder which people of Africa you are referring to??
Google absolutely anything relevant (eg IQ by country) and you’ll see the truth from hundreds of sources.
You really have a reality perception problem, don’t you?
You do realise you’re making yourself look increasingly foolish as you double down on your “We’re all equally intelligent!” nonsense… don’t you?
hundreds of sources….mountains of sources….lol.
yet to post a single link. LOL
I have also noted that no one is jumping to your defense on this one.
People are scared of being called a racist, and they fear they don’t know how to dispute the charge. I do.
Sure you do. By doubling down on pushing the foundational idea behind racism. Good strategy there Big Guy!
But again, if you are so brave. Answer the question. When you say African’s have a lower IQ, do you include African Americans in that assumption?
You’re just trying to corner me into an irrelevant question so you can call me a racist.
Eff off.
And anyway, to paraphrase Billy Bob Clinton, it all depends on what they meaning of the word “racist” is.
You define it. Then I’ll answer.
Didn’t say no did you? Telling i think.
That’s because I accept the differences between the races. So in your world I would have to answer “yes”, but that is the wrong answer, Your understanding of the concept is utterly flawed, as is most of your reasoning.
And you’re angling for what you would consider a rhetorical victory, no matter how counterfeit it would be. I deny you even that meagre solace.
You’re pitiful.
Chris, I do not believe that the problem is the result of poverty. I do believe that the problem involves the attitude toward out of wedlock childbirth by the Black population. With 70% of Black births to single mothers, this is a heavy burden for a single mom to be faced with. A married couple can share responsibilities. However, this is a choice the single Black moms have made. Because women of all races have made it clear that they are in charge of their reproduction (my body, my choice), men have responded by their unwillingness to marry just because a woman becomes pregnant. The day of a man doing the “right thing” by marrying a woman he impregnated is long gone. The point is a large percentage of Black females choose to be single moms which causes their children to be more vulnerable to dying at a larger rate than moms who choose marriage.
Wait….you thinks dad’s are part of baby health?
Or is the lack of dual income from a stable a marriage one of the many challenges making poverty more common in African American communities? Hence poverty is the root issue.
When you ask the question of why there is such a high rate of single mothers in the African American community, it again points back to social economic issues derived by a long history of racial persecution of blacks in American history. Mass incarceration of young black men being a key factor…which connects back to the cycle of poverty that was pressed upon the black community post slavery, post share cropping, post Jim Corw, etc… etc…
Please do remember that open discrimination against blacks existing in my lifetime so will take multiple generations to resolve the social economic impact before we see the black community restored to equal social economic standing as other communities in the US.
Just because we stopped being openly racist doesn’t mean to social economic impact of that past racism just automatically goes away. The cycle of poverty forced on the black community from generations of racism and discrimination is highly complex and has no easy solutions. Too often conservatives want to ignore this fact and tell everyone to just move on a pretend racism is no longer an issue we have no public responsibility to help in restoring the black community to equal footing.
I strongly disagree. But do admit that many past DEI programs are ineffective, and we need newer innovative ideas. But turning a blind eye will help no one. And most certainly, pointing to the impacts of poverty in the black community and claiming it is some inherent failing of African Americans is just another form of discrimination and needs to stop.
Chris, I am so surprised and disappointed with your comments. I thought you had tried to look around the corner at a minimum, if not turn the corner. Your comments demonstrate why Blacks need to throw off the yoke of woe is me and take responsibility for their lives. In 1960 the out of wedlock for Black babies was about 21%. If Black women who may have low incomes would make one decision to stop having babies without benefit of marriage, this would help their economic position, help with raising children, and help their perspective of finding a husband. Blacks are from a different culture than White Europeans. In the 1960s they began to embrace their Black culture, and it grew from there. Don’t blame Whites for this; it was a conscious decision. As far as unemployment is concerned, in 1960 the unemployment rate for Black men was 15.3%; 8.9% for White men. In January 2025 the unemployment rate for Black men was 5.5%; for White men, 3.8%. I would suggest this represents significant gains for Black men. For your own mental health, Chris, please stop seeing 1960 discrimination in 2025.
Chris you sound like the father of so many spoiled entitled kids I have dealt with who bear no accountability for their actions. The parents didn’t see themselves as any part of the problem but man could they spout out excuse after excuse as to why it was always someone else’s fault. Never their own. Keep up your crusade, cause it has to be Whitey’s fault
Rebel, I did fully fund my kids’ education (except the one who paid his way by serving his country – Thanks uncle Sam). So kinda spoiled for sure. Proud that i was able to let them start their lives debt free.
They best blessing is having two stable parents at home to help them through life on a daily basis. Many kids in lower income communities don’t. Guess you want to just write them off and ‘hope’ they don’t continue the cycle.
But you be you.
Termlimits, the yoke of woe is heavy. if you have never worn it alone without parental support or family support, without community support, without a great deal of trust or hope in a system that has persecuted people who look like you for generations, then you have no idea how heavy that yoke really is…
I don’t disagree that many of our approaches have fail to break the cycle of poverty and violence in many of our lower income communities. I don’t have all the answers but i do have empathy and compassion. Open to new ideas other than handouts and telling to just stop being poor and angry
But you be you.
It’s hard to point fingers at Whites when you see baby daddies by multiple women driving around in expensive cars with 4-5k rims and tires as well as sound systems that can be heard 6-8 blocks away, but for some reason most don’t understand the concept of being a father or paying child support
This is the same as Regaen’s ‘welfare queen’ lie and misinformation that helps no one except those wanting to turn a blind eye to the impacts on the black communities from over a century of racism and discrimination.
Reagan….in case you couldn’t read my typo
Here you go again Chris speaking about something you have no first hand knowledge of. Having worked in low income areas of South and East Greensboro for over 30 years I can tell you it’s not a poverty issue as much as a break down of family values and morals. Low IQ also plays a big role as well as looking to the government to take care of people who just don’t want to work to better themselves
Why is the family breakdown so common among the poor Mr. All Knowing of what it means to be deeply poor just because you ‘met’ them? (I have met a lot of soldiers who fought door to door in Bush’s war but that doesn’t mean I have any idea what it’s like to put my life on the line on a daily basis).
Also, do you mean low IQ or vastly under educated? Hard to worry about studying when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from….
But you be you.
good points but consider this difference: you went back to work while wife & baby could afford to stay home – the low income ALL RACES mothers HAD to go back to work quickly leaving baby care in the hands of expensive strangers or diminished capacity friends/relatives. gramps bubba or susan ! it’s a poverty problem here and in africa etc.
I’m thinking a lot of the cause for this is the environment and support structure for the mom during and immediately after pregnancy. Fairly sure it’s not Trump’s fault
that & they begin & end pregnancy in poor health from poor diets, habitats & cultures . . . surviving children ‘inherit’ genetically & culturally.
This is not a Trump issue. This is an American issue that is not new and has persisted across a number of political regimes as it sadly has few easy answers. But without question, Trump’s cutting of Medicaid isn’t going to help the problem and likely will make it worse.
We’re getting A story and not THE story. Looking at the Guilford County mugshots and arrest reports the majority of drug and alcohol arrests are minorities. This is not so much a policy of targeting minorities as the minority community having been co-opted for a “Great Society” six decades ago with the destruction of the black family and children growing up without fathers. Before the “Great Society” illegitimate black births were proportionately lower in many cities.
The failure of our education system has produced several generations of students who have been taught no life skills. We have kids who can’t make change or balance a checkbook. Schools at one time taught those students who wanted to be homemakers how to care for a baby, make proper meals and taught basic health and hygiene. Now you’d be hard pressed to find a student who didn’t know the 37 common pronouns but try to find one who could balance a checkbook or change a tire.
Throwing money at a problem will not solve it.
Why does the Republican party want to destroy public educations versus look for innovative or new solutions? Private industry has shown time and time again that you only get what you pay for so leaving education to private industry would crush any hope for lower income kids from getting a decent education.
And now, the Republicans are destroying Universities (which are the envy of the world) by cutting off research funding that drove some of the greatest post graduate institutions in the world as well as some of the most cutting edge research in the world.
And also cutting the Department of education that provides funds to offer talented students pell grants that can’t afford advanced education or cutting funds from title 1 public schools that need thr most support after decades of neglect.
Is it because conservatives are lazily and think solving education is too hard? Too expensive? Or is it because they believe universities are too liberal? Too woke?
Why?
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“Why does the Republican party want to destroy public educations versus look for innovative or new solutions?” – Chris
Need I say more?
If public education prepared students for the workforce, what would that curriculum include?
Math, reading and writing.
From there, can an individual determine what math to employ and what literature to read?
Why must education, public or private, cover topics that are not of interest to everyone?
How much stronger would our mathematicians be if not forced to spend time on other topics, for example?
“The only thing worse than time wasted is time misspent.”
I do not know how accurate the stories were of public schools “indoctrinating” students with gender identification and sexual orientation and so forth, but the projections for transgender medications and procedures were promising for shareholders prior to the deluge of news articles about trans athletes (males in female’s sports), etc.
It seemed like public schools were used as free advertising for Pharma stocks. Were they?
Anyway, back to the original topic…
What is the life rate?
What is on the other side of the death graph? How many babies were born of each demographic and how many lived?
For decades, public education has stated white Americans will be in the minority. How would that be possible? Would there not need to be more infants of other demographics surviving to achieve that outcome?
How are they surviving if poverty is a genuine factor?
Paid maternity leave means a person can exhaust all other leave, which is abundant in some agencies, and then be paid not to work regardless. Paid leave includes: Vacation. Sick. Bereavement. Parental. Holidays.
For teachers, add summer.
Was a lack of time off work without pay a genuine factor in the death / life rate?
While reading, writing and math are the core of education, it is critical to also begin to learn and receive exposure to social studies and science. Just look at how American society is turning away from faith in the scientific methodology, lack understanding of how our government is actually designed to work and how we too often miss use such terms as Marxism, Communism etc…the scare people away from certain ideas completely unrelated to those actual concepts. So history, science and civics (Alan, these all fall under the ‘social studies and science’ umbrella). Plus, kids that don’t plan to go on to more advanced education need to learn the basics of economics and business fundamentals (such as how compound interest works).
So no, I don’t agree that all kids need is a base foundation of reading, writing and math. Just look at how easy the average American today is so easily manipulated with misinformation and told to not look to experts and view advanced education as ‘liberal indoctrination’.
No coincidence that the more education you have, the more likely you are to be liberal versus conservative.
“… too often miss use…”
Maybe you need a refund on that college education sport. At least my “elementary school” education taught me Grammar, English, and Spelling.
My education didn’t teach me to type well on my phone (my personal computer was an IBM XT green screen). But again, proofing reading my comments for the conservative mind is not really worth the effort given the closed minds of the sheep who follow Trump.
But at least i understand the US is a democracy AND a republic because i did pay attention in social studies during 3rd grade.
But you be you.
What does the Republican Party have to do with this
Aussie,
Help me out here.
Remind me again who is the party with a documented racist history? Isn’t it the same party that created the KKK (aka The White Nights), the group (mob really) that operated under the banner of Christianity, wore hoods to conceal their individual identities, rode at night terrorizing people, and still exists today (albeit much smaller but also under other names)? And what party consistently fought early legislation and efforts in the past to give equal rights to minorities (primarily blacks)?
I’m looking thru my history reference material but seem to be having a problem finding it (sarcasm off). The party Chris appears to support? The party that has consistently told minorities (again, primarily blacks) ‘you need us to take care of you so keep us in power’.
More of that old talking point. Yawn. Let’s focus on the today versus looking back at the party’s from decades ago that have transformed many times over.
Let’s focus on the party TODAY that attracts people to rallies with the rebel flags and fly the nazi flag next to Trump campaign flags. THAT’s what is happening today in TODAY’s Republican party in support of Trump.
But you be you.
Mr. Henry you may need to brush up your history lessons. The Republican Party was formed after the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska act. The party was anti slavery and promoted the unity and prosperity of the states. Lincoln freed the slaves, what party was he.
Both Democrat and Republican are guilty of a lot of social injustice. Neither have clean hands.
Aussie,
I was trying to be sarcastic. I am aware of the history of the Republican Party as well as the history of the Democrat Party.
I think I’m going to avoid making that kind of mistake in the future.
And I agree that both parties have soiled hands.
It means that the Republican Party should invest in public health concepts supported by science, actually participate in the process for helping restore the African American communities to equal social economic footing after centuries of discriminatory persecution and stop turning their back on such a big portion of the American population.
Not complicated.
Exactly, Aussie. If NASA said Saturn’s rings were dissolving, Chrissy would blame Trump & the Republicans.
And Trump would blame Biden for negative outcomes from his awful economic agenda.
But you be you.
The destruction of public education began in the 1960s. It was caused by a cultural shift; more emphasis on administration, less on classroom teaching; “teacher colleges” training teachers by emphasizing techniques; turning schools into restaurants, serving meals thereby taking the emphasis off the purpose of schools; forcing schools to deal with disciplinary problems because families refuse to handle their problem children; allowing student phones in schools; and allowing non English speaking students into the classrooms. Attempting to fix what is wrong, start with the universities by de-emphasizing the technique-of-the-day and get down into the weeds of teaching students the basics; allow schools to send disruptive students home without the hassle of explaining that the action was not discriminatory; lunch is the only meal served during the day; no phones in schools, period; non-English speaking student not allowed in schools until they are proficient in English, teachers are not equipped or trained and should not be forced to deal with students who cannot speak English. Chris, schools do not need more funding. Money will not fix what is wrong with public schools. As far as Pell grants, by then the cow is out of the barn and Pell grants cannot fix the problem of a poorly educated public school student.
I don’t disagree with most of what you said. The idea that a ‘one size fits all kids’ approach to teaching isn’t logical and has reduced education to the common denominator that only hurts those kids that are actually there to learn and supported by strong family support to be successful in life.
But defunding isn’t the solution. That’s just cutting off your nose to spite your face. We need to have schools aligned to the appropriate learning needs of the kids. Not a one box approach to education.
At a minimum, we need to separate those kids that take up 80% of a teacher’s time away from actually teaching those kids that want to learn.
Privatization will accomplish taking on the kids with the highest probability of success but will ignore any kid they don’t see as profitable to educate. That is the nature of business. Hense why public schools are so critical. So, leaders need to step up and fix it versus defunding it. THAT is the only place we disagree, I think.