The Mississippi Department of Health issued the following statement.
The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) today declared a public health emergency in response to rising infant mortality rates across the state. Mississippi’s 2024 data shows the overall infant mortality rate has increased to 9.7 deaths per 1,000 live births, which is the highest in more than a decade. In Mississippi, 3,527 babies have died before the age of 1 since 2014.
“Too many Mississippi families are losing their babies before their first birthday,” said State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney. “This is deeply personal to me – not just as a physician, but as a father and grandfather. Every single infant loss represents a family devastated, a community impacted and a future cut short. We cannot and will not accept these numbers as our reality. Declaring this a public health emergency is more than a policy decision; it is an urgent commitment to save lives. Mississippi has the knowledge, the resources and the resilience to change this story. It will take all of us – policymakers, healthcare providers, communities and families – working together to give every child the chance to live, thrive and celebrate their first birthday.”
Infant deaths include those occurring within the first year of life. The leading causes in Mississippi include congenital malformations, preterm birth, low birth weight and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
“Improving maternal health is the best way to reduce infant mortality,” Dr. Edney added. “That means better access to prenatal and postpartum care, stronger community support and more resources for moms and babies. Healthy women of childbearing age are more likely to have healthy pregnancies, which in turn lead to healthier babies.”
Since infant mortality is a multi-dimensional issue, MSDH is leveraging clinical leadership to coordinate intra-agency resources to develop a united system to address this public health emergency, while seeking to reinvigorate interventions that will enable children to see their second birthday.
MSDH urges other clinical champions to join in the effort to reduce infant mortality across Mississippi. In direct response to this emergency, a multi-pronged strategy includes:
- Activating an OB (Obstetrics) System of Care, which standardizes and regionalizes maternal and infant care, improves transfer systems designating levels of care and expedites transfers to appropriate facilities.
- Eliminating “OB deserts” by increasing prenatal care opportunities utilizing targeted county health departments.
- Expanding community health worker programs to connect mothers and babies with care and resources where they live.
- Strengthening Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies, a care management and home visiting program that supports expectant moms and infants at risk, providing safer birthing experiences and healthier infant development.
- Partnering with hospitals and medical providers to address gaps in maternal care and to reinforce the importance of early prenatal visits.
- Educating families on safe sleep practices to reduce preventable infant deaths.
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will publish national and Mississippi infant mortality data later this year, MSDH recognized the urgency of this crisis and could not wait to take action. The emergency declaration allows MSDH to mobilize resources more quickly and work with partners across Mississippi to reverse these devastating trends.
27 comments:
"It will take all of us – policymakers, healthcare providers, communities and families – working together to give every child the chance to live, thrive and celebrate their first birthday.”
What Dr.Edney left out was "common sense" and understanding of the real problem. If the State's policymakers and various healthcare departments and organizations had the ability, and would use, just a little "common sense" this problem would not exist, and it goes without saying that lack of "common sense" by the various communities and families contributes to the problem.
You can’t be a drug user and expect to be a good mom. That goes for all races. And, what do you expect when you see billboards on I-20 and I-220 expressing the need to get checked for STD’s?
Gee! Could it be, that women who KNOW they're unfit to be mothers, or to even, in a biological sense, carry babies, are now FORCED to do so?
If you smoke, or the Sperm Donor smokes; f you drink; if you drug, if you live on junk food... you have no business getting pregnant. But NOW, you're forced to bring defective babies into the world (or, at least, into Mississippi).
Then, of course, there's 'The Jab', and its effect upon mothers and babies. But we won't talk about that.
The NYT did a story a few years ago on the infant mortality rate in the Delta. Most of the moms were morbidly obese 15 year olds. No one is allowed to say that that might be a problem.
The answer is obvious. Money solves all problems. At the birth of a child, parents should be given nutrition and early learning vouchers, a process that should continue through the age of 19. It's high time Head Start include children at birth through age 19. 150% of the federal poverty level should be the guiding cutoff for receipt of vouchers and a federal judge must oversee this experiment.
5:14 Your SPECIFIC recommendations for improvement would be most welcome.
Maternal health and lifestyle are the biggest factors. Obesity and its associated health issues is the number one problem. If someone can’t live healthily, there is little chance they will raise a child in a healthy manner.
My daughter is a Nurse Practioner, SP? anyway she worked at Kings Daughters Hospital in Yazoo City several years. It's a complicated culture...Hard to explain...Think of Pre Natal Care the same as Preventative Maintenance on your vehicle.. if it still runs you're good to go! Daughter always was looking for meds she could give her patients because they would not leave & go to the pharmacy & purchase them...The other family members who were giving these moms to be rides also controlled the purse strings...You would have to physically remove these moms to be from their environment & incarcerate them for the duration of pregnancy to get them to commit to the well being of their child...Don't know if this will ever change around here...The Culture Difference in the Family Unit is too great to overcome...
In the US, about 2/3rds of the 15 leading causes of infant death are from four causes -- congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities ; (2) disorders related to preterm birth and low birth weight; (3) sudden infant death syndrome, and (4) accident. In Mississippi, those 4 make up 75% of the 15 leading causes of death.
For Mississippi, SIDS and accidents are particularly bad outliers. Like 2.5x+ the national average from 2020-2023. Infants in Mississippi 6x more likely to die from accidents than in Utah. If the mother is married, the death rate from SIDS or accidents plummets.
BMI of the mother makes a substantial difference in low birth weight-related infant deaths. Infants of obese women in MS do have a higher death rate than infants of obese mothers in other states. And MS has a larger sample size of obese mothers too. ~40% of births in MS to around 30% nationally.
I would like to hear from both 5:14 and 6:53 as to what recommendations they would offer.
6:14 help me understand how these unfit mothers are being “forced” to have babies?
An “emergency?”
Like a “send in the National Guard”-type emergency?
Cradle to the grave welfare recipients care not for their own health, or the health of their offspring. They simply exist for the next moments of gratification.
Mississippi's weak and corrupt leaders are not serious people on any subject matter whatsoever....why would they take this subject any more seriously? They're all professional posers who do nothing for the state as a whole except serve as "place holders" of elected positions, then posture some more around election time. Mississippi remains dead last in so many categories because the media simply does not call out how truly useless it's elected clowns are.....even Barksdale Today won't do it.
It Takes A Village And The Village Bank - what an incredible insight. Tell me, who is supposed to pay for all this? Why is it their responsibility to pay? How are you personally supporting your ideas with your own money to lead the rest of us by example?
Cradle to the grave Communist.
"It's high time Head Start include children at birth through age 19"
That has got to be a troll. How in the hell are kids (or their parents) aged 6 to 19 going to benefit from programs specifically designed for expectant mothers, infants and toddlers?
"OK, Johnny, today we're going to play with our ABC blocks! Can you sing the ABC song with me?"
"Um, lady, I really don't have time for the blocks and singing stuff...I've got Algebra class in 20 minutes and I'm running late to school...MOM! DO YOU KNOW WHERE MY CAR KEYS ARE?!"
“Who is supposed to pay for this”. Disgusting. While I understand that argument for most subjects, the fact that people are concerned their money would go to keeping children alive and healthy is the most depressing thought ever. I can’t think of a better way for my tax money to be spent. It certainly isn’t being spent well in any other area.
Money has never solved any problem. It takes caring, loving people that have a passion, for the good of people, to solve problems.
Money is simply a tool, and like every other tool, money requires a human element to be effective. There has been trillions of dollars thrust upon Johnson's "great society", tell me what has been solved.
If someone would only invent "birth control" that would solve this problem.
August 21, 2025 at 8:58 PM; you know the reason. since roe-v-wade was returned back to the states, the knuckle dragging, smooth-brain, republicans of mississippi have decided that all pregnant women are now forced to have a baby.
just like we forced them to get pregnant outside of marriage. just like we forced them to get pregnant multiple times by multiple men. just like we forced them to go on welfare. just like we forced them to drop out of school. just like..... just like..... just like.....
that's all those type of commenters have; blame everybody else for their own and everybody else's problems. typical victimhood mentality; you never have to take responsibility for your own bad actions as long as you can blame the consequences on someone else.
What are things in which Mississippi is dead last?
Your local JUCO offers a course in spotting sarcasm. Enroll now.
August 22, 2025 at 8:37 AM; it's not my responsibility, nor am i obligated to pay for the mistakes and bad decisions made by others. especially when solutions to all of their problems have been known for decades.
if i'm expected to pay to care for someone else's bad decisions, then maybe you should be expected to help me pay for my daughter's private school tuition, since i'm at least making the right decisions by busting my ass to put her through a good school, to get a good education, to be a productive member of society, instead of her being someone that others are expecting, by folks like you, to be taken care of.
5:14. Why, when pediatricians give them vaccines at 2 years old that are mandated by law that are causing untold amounts of autism, ism's in general, allergies, chronic disease, diabetes, cancer and most other horrid things. Who is looking out for us?
i live half my time here in the dominican republic and the infant mortality rate is WAAAAY BELOW that of mississippi.
single biggest reason is that here is no welfare and nothing is free for the ''less fortunate''.
Jesus Christ man, all I’m talking about is keeping innocent children alive. You need help.
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