📣 Data-Guided Advocacy for Infant Mortality
- Tracy Flood
- Apr 21
- 3 min read
How can data help us to advocate for policies that will truly make a difference?
❤️ 📊 Can evidence-based policies reduce the risk of infant mortality in America? We think so. Here's what we did:
🪜 STEP-BY-STEP
STEP 1️⃣ : 🔍 Where is infant mortality high?
STEP 2️⃣ : 🔍 Where is early prenatal care lowest?
STEP 3️⃣ : 🔍 Where are insurance rates low?
STEP 4️⃣ : 🏛️ Who are representatives of those counties?
STEP 5️⃣ : 💌 Email representatives 📣
Note: Low/High data estimates are based on U.S. benchmarks. Infant mortality rate (IMR) calculated as the number of deaths for every 1,000 live births.
Lowering Infant Mortality
Can actions that we do today, lower America’s infant mortality rates in the future? We think so. Here’s what we did: We sent dozens of emails to members of congress urging them to support Medicaid. While most people focus on DC, remember that states also have state legislators and policymakers that work in state capitals across the U.S. on state-level budgets and policies.
With thousands of lawmakers to choose from, we focused on those elected of counties meeting these four criteria:
criteria 1. High rates of infant mortality. “High rates” defined as higher than U.S. benchmark values.
criteria 2. The lowest rates of early prenatal care, defined as percent of pregnancies where care was initiated in the 1st trimester. Counties ranked low to high.
criteria 3. A high percent of uninsured females in their reproductive years (ages 19-44 years). Percentages compared to U.S. benchmarks.
criteria 4. Finally, we focused on counties with over 1,000 births a year.
A total of 81 counties met these four criteria and we selected 20 where prenatal care was lowest and, therefore, improvement opportunities were possible. We reached out to state-level representatives in all 20 counties and shared infograms.
Will this work?
If lawmakers support Medicaid and more people are insured, we believe this will be effective. Why? Prenatal care is one evidence-based solution to lower the risk of infant death [1, 2]. People, including pregnant people, with insurance are more likely to get medical care [3]. And, perhaps most importantly, insurance that also covers infant healthcare costs reduces the lower risk of death before their 1st birthday [2, 3].
Lawmakers supporting evidence-based policies can truly make a difference. We heard back from one lawmaker in particular.
Email from Senator Aird, Virginia Senate - District 13:
Senator Aird has and continues to champion measures aimed at addressing the unacceptable infant and maternal mortality rates both within the City of Petersburg and the Commonwealth as a whole.
Some lawmakers are already supporting evidence-based policies to address this important issue.
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501c3 disclosure: We advocate for evidence-based policies. We are thrilled to share emails from lawmakers when they comment upon evidence-based policies. We do not endorse any particular politician, political party, or political candidate.
📖 References 📖
[1] Mohammadi, S., Shojaei, K., Maraghi, E., Motaghi, Z. (2023). The Effectiveness of Prenatal Care Programs on Reducing Preterm Birth in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2023 Jan 27;28(1):20-31.
[2] Mitrogiannis, I., Evangelou, E., Efthymiou, A., Kanavos, T., Birbas, E., Makrydimas, G., & Papatheodorou, S. (2023). Risk factors for preterm birth: an umbrella review of meta-analyses of observational studies. BMC medicine, 21(1), 494. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10720103/
[3] Institute of Medicine (2002). US Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance. Health Insurance is a Family Matter. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 6, Health-Related Outcomes for Children, Pregnant Women, and Newborns. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK221019/