Experts look at racism as cause for higher infant mortality rate among African-Americans

An expert says a conference in Cincinnati Wednesday was looking at racism as the reason for a much greater infant mortality rate among African-Americans than whites. "What we do know and what we're concentrating on this conference is really looking at racism," said Stacy Scott, PhD and co-chair of the Ohio Collaborative to Prevent Infant Mortality. Health officials recognize there's a big problem when three out of every four babies who die prematurely are African-American. At the Ohio Infant Mortality Summit Wednesday at the Duke Energy Center, there was heavy focus on newly released state numbers. There was a slight decline in Ohio's infant mortality rate from 7.4 per 1,000 live births in 2016 to 7.2 in 2017. But the number of black infant deaths increased from 15.2 to 15.6.