Infant Mortality: No Change

The Children's Bureau of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare made a disheartening announcement last week: the U.S. death rate for infants under one year of age did not improve by a single percentage point during 1962. While the U.S. figure remains stuck at 253 first-year deaths for every 10,000 births (a toll of 100,000 babies a year), other countries are cutting their death rates and outstripping the U.S.

As a result, the U.S. has dropped from tenth to eleventh place in the roster of nations as measured by baby care. In 1950, the U.S. was in sixth place. Heading the roll now are The Netherlands and Sweden, tied with 153 deaths per 10,000 births. Next come Norway, Finland, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. It was Ireland that nudged the U.S. out of the top ten last year, by moving up from 13th place. To some slight extent, the U.S. infant-death rate reflects modern medicine's ability to maintain pregnancies and deliver babies in cases that, years ago, would have ended in spontaneous abortions ("miscarriages") or stillbirths, and would not have counted in the statistics.

More babies today are strong enough to be born alive, but not to survive. But for most of U.S. infant mortality there is no such comforting explanation. The unpleasant statistics, said Mrs. Katherine B. Oettinger, the Children's Bureau chief, are largely the result of lack of medical care for women during pregnancy, especially among the Negro, Puerto Rican and Mexican populations in the big cities.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.