About 43% of all fetal and infant deaths in Montgomery County involved Blacks and African American women although they only account for 22% of births here, according to a just-released report by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Overall, infant mortality has declined here during the past 10 years, but Blacks and African American women “continue to experience these tragic losses at twice the rate of other races, a persistent trend that should concern us all,” Dr. James Bridgers, acting director of DHHS, wrote in the report that covers 2022.
The data shows that the infant mortality rate for Blacks and African Americans in the county during a six-year period that ended in 2019 “was significantly higher than the average rate, and nearly twice as high as the rates for Whites and Hispanics,” it states in the report.
According to the report, stress, absence of prenatal care, teen pregnancy, advanced maternal age pregnancy, substance abuse, medical complications and history of premature births are all factors concerning death rates of infants before they reach their first birthday.
In 2021, 39 fetal and 50 infants died. The highest death rates occurred in Germantown and the Silver Spring area, according to the report.
There were about 12,000 births in Montgomery County during 2022.
The 2022 DHHS Improved Pregnancy Outcomes Program Annual Report highlights what is being done in Montgomery County to address the fact that Black/African American women experience fetal and infant loss at twice the rate as women of other races. https://t.co/sSPASzAsVb pic.twitter.com/3k2xJ29Dnu
— Montgomery County DHHS (@MoCoDHHS) April 5, 2023
