Infant mortality rate declines in South Carolina

For the first time in 20 years, the country is seeing a significant increase in infant mortality rates, this is according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) – For the first time in 20 years, the country is seeing a significant increase in infant mortality rates, this is according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

USC’s Institute for Families in Society Professor Sarah Gareau says while the country has seen an increase there has been a 7% improvement in South Carolina’s infant mortality rate from 2021 to 2022.

“We’ve done some research at USC and women who had covid 19 at the time of their deliveries in South Carolina, they were sadly six times more likely to have a severe crisis at the time of their delivery and they were also more likely to have a premature or low birth weight baby. We really saw that during covid 19 with the Delta variant,” said Professor Gareau. 

Professor Gareau names the major contributors to the improvement: fewer impacts from covid and the extension of access to postpartum care coverage for medicare recipients. However, she says it is not a significant increase as the state still ranks twelve for infant deaths due to challenges such as lack of insurance, financial constraints, lack of transportation and education.

“What’s driving much of the infant mortality are maternity infections and complications, thats whats going on nationally. In South Carolina, if you look at the top three reasons that babies sadly die within the first year of life they are all related to things that if we can improve access to care for mom we could decrease: prematurity, congenital abnormalities, and maternal complications during pregnancy,” said Professor Gareau. 

Professor Gareau says past data shows black infants in South Carolina continued to die at a disproportionate rate.

“There is so much work to do with providers to ensure they’re really listening to moms stories, they hear their voices, they don’t ignore their stories especially for women of color in our state. We are doing some work with a project called Voices to uplift those stories through narratives and introducing provider education because what can happen is that women can feel pressure, ignored, and they may even use the word abused when they talk about safety with their provider,” said Professor Gareau.