Learn About Our Neighbors: Infant Mortality
In our new series, we want to give you, our friends, a deeper perspective on the types of families we serve. In previous newsletters, we’ve talked about literacy rates and food deserts. Today, we’re going to discuss a key metric in measuring a society’s health—infant mortality.
Infant mortality refers to the death of a child within his or her first year of life after a “live birth,” when the child emerges from the womb in an apparent viable state. The issue becomes more nuanced when making comparisons between different demographics. We’re going to analyze disparities among zip codes and race.
The mortality rate between two zip codes that border each other in the Fort Worth/Tarrant County region reveals a drastic difference. According to the 2020 data from the US Census Bureau, the 76104 zip code had a median household income of $35,193 and a 51.4% employment rate. According to data drawn between 2011-2014, in 76104, a rate of 19.34 deaths occurred per 1000 live births (20 infants) (The University of Texas). In 76107, the median household income was $67,844 with a 65.4% employment rate. Their mortality rate was 1.83 deaths (2 infants). Poverty makes a difference!
It’s likely that pockets of each region’s residents even shared the same hospitals. In addition to considering the caliber of the hospital, other factors in a child’s environment play a part in their quality of life. Those in poverty often struggle to thrive in areas of life that are instrumental for a child, such as “healthy food, access to healthcare, transportation, education, and housing” (D Magazine).
In Tarrant County, there exists differences between death rates along race lines, too. According to March of Dimes, between 2017-2019, white children experienced a 5.2 morality rate (6 infants) per 1000 live births, while black children had a 9.7 rate (10 infants). When documented in 2020, the 76104 code was comprised of 34.7% African Americans, while in 76107, the population was 13% black (US Census).
Those we serve are uniquely vulnerable to this serious statistic. Many moms whose residences we furnish have given birth to new babies. Others we helped have conceived and given birth after we furnished their families! We believe that providing a crib or a quality mattress for the mom and infant to sleep on becomes a game changer in creating a healthy environment for infants to thrive.
The good news is that over time these mortality rates have been decreasing in both Dallas and Tarrant County (D Magazine)! While other efforts by the private and public sector certainly need to focus on addressing this issue, we believe Furnishing Families continues to be part of the solution.
Here we measured 1000 live births. In our graph, we chose to round up to whole numbers because no one can be “half dead.” Death rates are in human terms. If a decimal is left over, like .5, for example, that would round up to a single infant. To be technical, if someone were to measure the death count of a large population of a zip code, they should first calculate the rate divided by 1000. Then they should multiply that number by the population sample.