An alarming number of Ohio babies dies before first birthday. We must change that| Opinion

Bradley Jackson
·4 min read
13
Babies of Black moms, and Black moms themselves, are more likely to die during pregnancy. According to the Ohio Department of Health, the Black infant mortality rate was 14.3 per 1,000 live births in 2019, compared to 5.1 for white babies.
Babies of Black moms, and Black moms themselves, are more likely to die during pregnancy. According to the Ohio Department of Health, the Black infant mortality rate was 14.3 per 1,000 live births in 2019, compared to 5.1 for white babies.

Bradley Jackson is the chief medical director for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s Medicaid Health Plan in Ohio.

Childbirth in the U.S. can be dangerous, compared with other developed nations.

Roughly every 12 hours a woman dies of a pregnancy-related cause, and 60% of these causes are preventable.

In addition, many babies continue to be born too early, too small, or too sick to go home with their families.

More: Over a 4-year period, 57% of pregnancy deaths in Ohio could have been prevented, report says

These alarming statistics are why our affiliated health plans, whose members account for 11% of our nation's births, and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation are at the forefront of improving maternal and infant health, especially in communities of color,  where health disparities have a dramatic impact on outcomes.

We are working here in Ohio and across the country, hand-in-hand with community partners, to drive change.

Most recently, our foundation committed nearly $15 million nationwide, including $740,000 in Ohio, to support maternal health initiatives that could impact up to 100,000 women.

Each initiative will focus on one or more of the following goals: reducing preterm birth rate, reducing maternal morbidity and mortality, and reducing primary Cesarean rate.

These grants are part of up to $30 million the Foundation plans to invest over the next three years to improve maternal health outcomes – generating measurable impact, particularly for socially vulnerable populations.

More: Opinion: Biden's plan will will help save the lives of babies in Columbus

We know babies of Black moms, and Black moms themselves, are more likely to die in pregnancy.

Infant mortality rates in Northeast Ohio are three to five times higher for Black babies than white babies.

In Franklin County, the infant mortality rate for Back babies is 2.5 times higher than for white babies.

Michel'e Miller holds her new baby while she ties the shoes of her son, as her daughter stretches out on the couch in July 2019. She was enrolled in a program that seeks to reduce infant mortality by helping homeless pregnant women and new moms find stable housing.
Michel'e Miller holds her new baby while she ties the shoes of her son, as her daughter stretches out on the couch in July 2019. She was enrolled in a program that seeks to reduce infant mortality by helping homeless pregnant women and new moms find stable housing.

To ensure funding reaches the communities in which it is needed most, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation is placing an emphasis on programs specifically working to create equity in maternal health care.

We are focusing on programs that address racial disparities and biases, address health-related social needs, remove barriers to care and drive specific measurable maternal and child health outcomes.

We believe that a happy and healthy baby begins with a happy and healthy mother. As more attention is brought to maternal health disparities and maternal care, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation continues to work with our community partners across Ohio including CelebrateOne, Kent State University Foundation, and Open Table to improve health outcomes of all birthing people and babies.

Our commitment with CelebrateOne, Franklin County’s infant mortality prevention collaborative, will establish a new program, Housing for Pregnant Women, that will provide an integrated housing and health program.

More: CelebrateOne unveils 5-year plan, reports infant mortality rate down 20% in Franklin County

Support offered through the program includes rental and utility assistance, housing search and move-in assistance and housing stabilization services. Housing stress leads to increased rates of preterm birth, along with other negative outcomes.

Bradley Jackson is the chief medical director for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s Medicaid Health Plan in Ohio.
Bradley Jackson is the chief medical director for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s Medicaid Health Plan in Ohio.

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Through this program, we can offer assistance, provide heathier situations for mothers and babies and start to bring the preterm birth rate down.

We came together with Kent State University Foundation with the goal to expand programming targeting preterm births and infant mortality among Black mothers in Northeast Ohio. Experts at Kent State found that untreated post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic stress among Black mothers play a critical role in high mortality rates among Black children.

More: The alarming number of Black baby deaths here must be stopped| Opinion

We will address this ongoing need through a newly launched program, The Spirit of Motherhood, a multi-level, multi-generational intervention approach that has three components to reduce infant mortality by reducing race-related stress in Black women:

  • Provide Black pregnant women with Written Exposure Therapy, a brief intervention that helps them process racial trauma and other traumatic life experiences, delivered by Black clinical psychology doctoral-level therapists;

  • A five-session behavioral parenting training designed to alleviate parenting-related stressors and teach and enhance parenting skills for Black mothers, led by community-based doulas;

  • Utilization of music to teach preschool children of the pregnant women emotion regulation, adaptive coping, and social skills.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation has allotted $740,000 to Ohio to support maternal health initiatives focusing on reducing preterm birth rate, reducing maternal morbidity and mortality, and reducing primary Cesarean rate.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation has allotted $740,000 to Ohio to support maternal health initiatives focusing on reducing preterm birth rate, reducing maternal morbidity and mortality, and reducing primary Cesarean rate.

Lastly, our collaboration with Open Table and Moms2B will aim to reduce the preterm birthrate for 390 vulnerable women in Columbus and Dayton over a period of three years from 12.7% to 9.9%.

Through innovative models, we will employ evidence-informed programming specific to pregnant or parenting women with complex barriers where their health can be directly impacted by the social factors they face — such as access to nutritious food, reliable transportation, quality housing, and financial stability.

Moms2B will identify, screen, and refer at-risk clients to Open Table who have the most complex needs through an individualized and personalized care approach that will form deep, long-lasting relationships with a specialized team of six community volunteers that meets weekly for a year working on goals specific to each woman and her family.

Through approaches like these — which combine data, community engagement, and education — we are working to break down barriers and increase access to high-quality maternal health care for women and their babies across Ohio.

Bradley Jackson is the chief medical director for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s Medicaid Health Plan in Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Opinion: What can be done to lower the Black infant mortality rate?