Infant Mortality

Leaders from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration visited St. Louis University on Wednesday to discuss what federal officials could do to reduce the state’s high rate of maternal and infant deaths. Community health workers, patients and government officials took part in a roundtable at St. Louis University with agency officials from Washington, D.C.

Infant mortality in Missouri went up 16% between 2021 and 2022, according to federal data released earlier this month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Missouri was one of only four states that showed a significant rise.

Missouri has a maternal mortality rate of 25.2 deaths per 100,000 live births, higher than the national average. Health professionals worry that the state’s near-total abortion ban will make pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period even more dangerous.

Missouri has the 8th highest maternal deaths in the country. Pre-filed bill would extend postpartum care for low-income women.

Less than two years ago, the staff behind Flourish St. Louis set a daring goal: eliminate racial disparity and infant mortality by 2033. They called it…

Black infants in St. Louis County are more than twice as likely to die as white infants, according to a new report.The first Maternal and Child Health…

The longer a woman smokes during pregnancy, the more likely she is to have a low birth weight baby, a study by a St. Louis University epidemiologist has…

Brittany "Tru" Kellman sometimes starts her day two hours before Jamaa Birth Village opens at 10 a.m., stashing diapers and snacks for the dozens of…

In Illinois, losing a baby before its first birthday happens far more often to black mothers than those of other races. The difference between whites...

A local food bank has teamed up with a north St. Louis hospital to offer a “fresh-food prescription” service for low-income, pregnant mothers.Not having…