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Tennessee's infant
mortality still outpaces other areas
By Richard
Locker
Thursday, June 12,
2008
NASHVILLE -- Tennessee
moved up one place, to 42nd, in the 2008 "Kids Count" ranking of
states by 10 indicators of the well-being of
children.
Arkansas ranked 45th and
Mississippi 50th, both unchanged from 2007 in the list compiled
annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Of the 10 core measures of
the health and well-being of children, Tennessee has shown
improvements since 2000 in six indicators and declines in four
others. But on a year-to-year basis only, Tennessee improved on
only four of the 10 measures, declined in four others and was
unchanged on two.
Tennessee's worst rankings
relative to other states continues to be in infant mortality, 45th
among the states; teen birth rate, 45th; and the percent of
low-birthweight babies, a key cause of infant deaths,
43rd.
The state's highest
rankings nationally are in the percent of teens who are high school
dropouts, 15th lowest; child death rate (deaths among children ages
1-14), 34th, teen death rate (deaths among teens ages 15-19),
34th.
"Tennessee has implemented
good public policies and strategies to improve outcomes for older
children, resulting in more children graduating from high school
and fewer adolescents dying," said Linda O'Neal, executive director
of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, a state agency
whose primary mission is advocating for improvements in the quality
of life for children and families.
The commission works with
the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the world's largest private
charitable organization focused on improving the lives of
vulnerable children and families, on Kids Count in
Tennessee.
But O'Neal said Tennessee
"must continue and strengthen significant emphasis on improving ...
maternal health to reduce the number of low-birthweight babies and
infant deaths -- efforts that take several years before the
outcomes are reflected in the data reported in the
book."
Nationally, the 2008
report shows five areas of improvement: the child death rate, teen
death rate, teen birth rate, high school dropout rate, and teens
not in school and not working. Four areas worsened: low-birthweight
babies, children living in families where no parent has full-time,
year-round employment, children in poverty, and children in
single-parent families. The infant mortality rate was
unchanged.
"Kids Count contains some
good and bad news," said Laura Beavers of the Annie E. Casey
Foundation. "We continue to see that well-being indicators have
largely gotten better for teens, and they've gotten worse for
babies. The percent of babies born at low-birthweight continues to
increase, with the 2005 rate the highest reported since
1968."
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The Black Children's Institute of
Tennessee
BCI
