Maternal and infant health in Alabama once again ranks among the worst in the United States, according to a new annual March of Dimes survey.
A non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of American mothers and babies, 2022 Report Card This month, Alabama failed due to its premature birth rate. Last year, her 13.1% of babies born in the state were premature, less than 37 weeks pregnant.
This is the highest percentage seen in Alabama since the March of Dimes began keeping records in 2011, and is only lower than Louisiana’s 13.5% and Mississippi’s 15.0%.
Premature babies may have vision, learning, hearing, and other developmental problems.
“It’s expensive for premature babies. If they’re born too early, they’re most likely to be admitted to the NICU because not everything is developing in the mother’s womb.” We see that we are not managing our population properly.”
About 16.7% of black babies born in Alabama are born preterm, compared to 11.2% of white babies, 10.6% of Hispanic babies, and 9.6% of Asian and Pacific Island babies. Overall, Alabama’s black woman’s premature birth rate is 50% higher for her than for all other women.
Black mothers have a higher infant mortality rate than other mothers in the state, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.
The March of Dimes, in a report tracking the maternity care desert that affects women, especially in rural areas, cites one possible explanation for the worsening health of mothers and infants.
Only 21 counties in Alabama, including Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Dallas and Jefferson, have full access to maternity care. Another 43 counties have little or no access to obstetric care.
Areas designated by the March of Dimes as maternity care deserts do not have hospitals or birth centers that provide maternity care, and there are no maternity care providers in the county. More than a third (37%) of him in Alabama County fall into this category.
None of the state’s 11 counties have a single federally accredited medical center. Also, apart from one in Montgomery, only one hospital provides maternity care to the rural Black Belt. That is the Vaughan Regional Medical Center in Selma.
“If you think about it, rural women, especially in these maternity care deserts, are going to be far away from antenatal care and hospitals if something goes wrong,” McDaniel said. “These maternity care deserts have been associated with rising poverty rates, falling median incomes, and rising proportions of uninsured people, which is rough, especially if Alabama doesn’t see any improvement.” ”
McDaniel also said that Alabama’s health care reimbursement rate was calculated based on 2009 data. If rural health care providers do not receive adequate reimbursement due to low actual birth numbers, it may affect their ability to continue to provide maternity care.
The March of Dimes advocates several policy actions that revolve around potential solutions to declining maternal and infant health. These include expanding Medicaid to individuals below the federal poverty level of 138%, expanding access to midwifery care in all states, raising the level of parental income eligibility under Medicaid, and Medicaid’s postpartum coverage period. of her extension to 12 months.
Counties in Alabama that the March of Dimes considers maternity care deserts include:
- Lawrence County
- franklin county
- Marion County
- winston county
- Lamar County
- Cleburne County
- Randolph County
- Clay County
- pickens county
- green county
- Sumter County
- Hale County
- Perry County
- Marengo County
- Choctaw County
- Wilcox County
- lownes county
- Elmore County
- block county
- Barbour County
- Henry County
- Crenshaw County
- monroe county
- Connequew County
- Washington County
Hadley Hitson covers the rural South with Montgomery Advertiser and Report for America.she can be reached at[email protected]To support her work, Subscribe to Advertisers Also Donate to Report for America.
