Healthy Communities Have Healthy Babies
In a healthy community, everyone has equitable access to the care they need. One of the easiest ways to spot a healthy community is to see how it provides for some of its most vulnerable members - pregnant women and their unborn babies, as well as newborn infants and their families.
Ensuring that babies are born healthy and thrive requires a coordinated approach to caring for pregnant women, mothers, families and those who support them. It starts with affordable access to medical care and proper nutrition before, during and after pregnancy. It also includes education on breastfeeding and infant safe sleep, and provides the additional support families need to raise healthy babies.
Since 2000, Battle Creek and Calhoun County have had an organized, collaborative, community-wide effort to achieve this goal. That’s when the Regional Health Alliance (RHA) created its Maternal and Infant Health Commission to focus on reducing infant mortality, or the number of babies born who do not live to their first birthday.
Because of these long-term partnerships, we’ve been successful. Recent data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services provides the facts. From 2013 - 2015, the infant mortality rate in Battle Creek dropped to 8.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, down from 10.6 in 2008 - 2010.
There have been even greater improvements across Calhoun County. From 2013 - 2015, the infant mortality rate in Battle Creek dropped to 6.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, down from 10.2 in 2008 - 2010. Our County’s infant mortality rate is the same as the rate across the entire state of Michigan.
Author:
Regional Health Alliance
Resource Date:
January 1, 2017
Location:
Calhoun (County)
Resource Type:
Topics:
Resource Address:
32 West Michigan Ave, Battle Creek, MI 49017
