Virginia’s infant mortality rate at all-time low

Virginia's infant-mortality rate dropped markedly last year -- an indication, state officials said, that education and increased access to prenatal care for pregnant women is improving the health of their babies.

In 2008, there were 6.7 deaths of children under 1 year old for every 1,000 live births in the state, down from 7.7 deaths for every 1,000 live births in 2007 -- the highest rate during the past five years.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said the current rate, a drop of roughly 12 percent, is the lowest in the state's history.

"Today is the first bit of really good news that we have that the efforts that we're all undertaking together on infant mortality are working," Kaine said at a news conference in front of the Civil Rights Memorial on Capitol Square.

Dr. Karen Remley, the state's health commissioner and a physician who specializes in pediatric emergency care, put it this way:

"Today we can celebrate that 138 more babies lived this year than last year."

Remley said the state's infant-mortality rate, historically among the highest in the nation, "truly is Virginia's silent epidemic," accounting for more deaths among children than those younger than 18 who die in traffic wrecks, homicides and suicides combined.

In 2007, 839 babies died; 701 died in 2008.

The improvement now puts Virginia on par with the national average of 6.7 deaths per 1,000 births. A recent study ranked Virginia 29th in infant mortality, based on statistics collected from 2000 to 2006.

The 2008 decrease also included a reduction in infant deaths among blacks, a population in which the infant-mortality rate has been roughly twice the overall state average.

The population averaged 12.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008, compared with 15.5 deaths per 1,000 births in 2007. The rate also dropped among all other races combined, from 5.6 deaths to 5.1 deaths during the same time period.

"Infant mortality is much more a significant challenge in certain geographic communities and in certain ethnic communities," Kaine said.

In 1982, Virginia's infant-mortality rate was 12.9 deaths per 1,000 live births, and the state consistently has ranked in the bottom half nationally, despite having a per-capita income in recent years that ranks in the top 10 states.

In 2006, Kaine established a Health Reform Commission charged, in part, with reducing the state's infant-mortality rate.

In 2007, under the Department of Health's "Saving Babies" initiative, 10 communities in the state with the highest number of infant deaths were given $100,000 grants to address related issues, including the city of Richmond and Chesterfield and Henrico counties.

The other communities were Newport News, Portsmouth, Fairfax County, Prince William County, Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.

And effective July 1, the state expanded eligibility of expectant mothers to qualify for prenatal care to those with incomes of twice the federal poverty level.

"Good education, good safety, good health-care access, a good sense of community can all help us stop this epidemic," said Remley, who noted that last year, 22 fewer babies died of sudden infant death syndrome in Virginia than the previous year.

"This is the beginning of a very long battle that has gone on for many years and will continue," she said. "But I think we are at the beginning of a real success story."

Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or .