Infant Mortality
Decreasing Infant Deaths, Improving Babies’ Health
By working together with hospitals, nonprofit organizations and state and local agencies, CelebrateOne, Columbus’ collective impact initiative, plans to reduce the infant mortality rate and cut the racial health disparity gap.
Babies born too soon or too small, unsafe sleep practices, smoking, birth defects and social and economic conditions are leading causes of infant mortality.
Challenges
- Every week, nearly three babies die before their first birthday in Franklin County.
- From January to September 2024, 94 Franklin County infants died before their first birthday resulting in an infant mortality rate of 7.2 per 1,000 live births.
- In 2023, 126 Franklin County infants died before their first birthday resulting in an infant mortality rate of 7.4 per 1,000 live births.
- From January to September 2024, 15 Franklin County infant deaths were related to sleeping or the sleep environment, as compared to 20 in 2023.
- From January to September 2024, Non-Hispanic, Black infants were 2.3 times more likely to die than Non-Hispanic, White infants.
- In 2023, Non-Hispanic, Black infants were 3.3 times more likely to die than Non-Hispanic, White infants, up from 2.4 in 2022.
- In 2023, Non-Hispanic, Black infants accounted for 52% of infant death in Franklin County, but only 30% of births.
- From January to September 2024, 11.5% of babies were born prematurely (<37 weeks gestation), as compared to 10.6% in 2023.
Initiatives
- Franklin County hospitals are committed to showing parents an educational video before discharge, highlighting the elements of a safe home sleep environment, the importance of not smoking in the house, and tips for soothing a crying baby.
- Tobacco cessation: Identifying and referring women who smoke tobacco and are pregnant or have delivered a baby to cessation counseling programs.
- Legal needs: Assessing if pregnant women have legal issues, such as evictions, that can affect health outcomes and referring them to Columbus Legal Aid Society.
- Opiate prescriptions: Reducing the amount of opiates prescribed to women undergoing a cesarean section.
Progress
- From January to September 2024, 93.2% of parents reported that they viewed an educational video before being discharged from a maternity unit, as compared to 88% in 2023. The video provides education on safe sleep, breastfeeding and in-home tobacco use.
- From January to October 2024, Franklin County hospitals referred 351 pregnant women to Columbus Public Health for tobacco cessation counseling, as compared to 369 in 2023.
- From January to September 2024, 3.2% of mothers reported they had smoked during any trimester, as compared to 3.7% in 2023.
- From January to September 2024, the Southeast and Columbus Legal Aid Society served 207 pregnant clients referred from Franklin County hospitals as compared to 357 total in 2023.