Reply #3: Not to mention the US infant mortality rate...

[Raster]

U.S. lagging behind many other nations on infant mortality rates: Healthy behavior, healthier babies

Like other startling health statistics, the U.S. infant mortality rate easily elicits both sighs of frustration and words of determination from health workers — frustration from knowing many such deaths are preventable and determination from knowing that a poor infant mortality rate does not bode well for the nation’s future health prospects.

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Released in October 2008, a new data brief from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics ranks the United States 29th globally in infant mortality in 2004, the latest year such data were available for all countries. The U.S. ranking, which has risen from 12th in 1960 to 23rd in 1990, currently ties the United States with Poland and Slovakia. Authors of the brief, "Recent Trends in Infant Mortality in the United States," noted that while such global comparisons can be affected by reporting differences, "it appears unlikely that differences in reporting are the primary explanation for the United States’ relatively low international ranking." According to the brief, the U.S. infant mortality rate in 2005 was 6.86 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, not much different than the 6.89 rate in 2000 — a lack of decline that has "generated concern among researchers and policy-makers." In fact, the level rate from 2000–2005 represents the first period of ongoing lack of decline in the U.S. infant mortality rate since the 1950s, the brief stated. The Healthy People 2010 target for infant mortality is 4.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

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http://www.apha.org/publications/tnh/archives/2009/February09/Nation/BabiesNAT.htm

The premature birth rate and mortality rates are indicative of the lack of adequate prenatal care, which is directly tied to the lack of affordable, available heathcare for all. Something's got to change...
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