Michigan ranks 8th in the U.S with having the highest rate of infant deaths. Reducing infant mortality is a key priority in the State but will require strong social networks, community resources, and the infrastructure needed to create the conditions for health and well being.
Earlier this year, the State published the “Infant Mortality Reduction Plan for 2016-2019” to find ways to improve birth outcomes and plan to work together with partners from the public and the private sector to develop more effective data-driven strategies to reduce infant mortality.
According to the report, information has been collected through vital records but improvements still need to be made as to how the data is collected and processed. This will result in improved timeliness of vital records data sets used to track infant mortality.
Today, the “Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System” a joint project with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) www.michigan.gov/mdhhs and CDC www.cdc.gov provides information on infants and the mother’s health before, during, and after pregnancy.
The Michigan DHHS is using new methods to analyze information. They are using geo-spatial and epidemiological analyses to determine infant mortality rates and maps are being developed to determine areas in the state where help is greatly needed.
As further questions are added to the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System’s survey, the understanding of the social determinants of health, including stress levels and unmet social support needs as related to infant health, will be used to guide the monitoring of the recently released Infant Mortality Reduction 2016-2019 plan.
In a positive step, the State is taking part in Maternal Fetal Telemedicine Clinics that provide high-risk maternity patients access to maternal-fetal medicine specialty services that would otherwise not be fully available in the region.
Clinics have been established in Cadillac and Alpena Michigan to serve women in the northern Lower Peninsula. The Cadillac site was established with support from the March of Dimes through a partnership with the Munson Healthcare Cadillac Hospital and Spectrum Health maternal-fetal medicine. The Alpena site is operated by the Alpena Regional Medical Center in partnership with Munson Healthcare.
Ongoing communication is important as the 2016-2019 plan is implemented to transmit information and receive information on infant mortality across Michigan. The goal is to develop the communication plan to keep legislators and other public and private funders, and the people in Michigan current on the state of infant mortality.
Go to www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339–380866–,00.html for more information and to view the 2016-2019 plan.