Washington, DC – As part of national Infant Mortality Awareness Month, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a resolution authored by Congressman Steve Cohen (Ninth District) calling for a greater national commitment to reduce infant mortality in the United States.

The final vote on the measure was 415-0.

“I was spurred to introduce this resolution by the devastating rate of infant mortality in the Ninth District. It is a tragedy that African-American babies in Shelby County die at three times the nation’s infant mortality rate. We must do more to make sure that women have the prenatal care they need to deliver healthy children – and that starts by improving access to health clinics and recruiting the best and brightest medical students to be inner city doctors,” Cohen said.

In Memphis, the infant mortality rate is three times higher than that of the United States (higher than any other city in the country), and the 2005 infant mortality rate in the 38108 zip code of Memphis was deadlier for babies than that of the countries of Vietnam, Iran, and El Salvador with 31 deaths per 1,000 live births, 5 times that of the 2005 national average of 6.86 deaths per 1,000 live births.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that the United States ranked 29th in the world in infant mortality in 2004, falling from 12th in 1960.  There are more than 28,000 deaths to children under 1 year of age each year in the United States.

“The United States amazingly enough ranks 29th in the world in the incidents of infant mortality. That is a shocking figure, and while there are a lot of reasons for infant mortality the lack of access to quality, affordable and comprehensive health care is a part of the problem,” Cohen said.

Last week, Cohen joined with Shelby County Mayor A.C. Wharton, and members of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health to officially kick-off National Infant Mortality Awareness Month at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. As part of the event, Tonya Lewis Lee, director Spike Lee’s wife, unveiled a film that was shot this summer in Memphis on the subject of infant mortality called “Crisis in the Crib.”   

The video can be viewed at http://www.omhrc.gov/templates/content.aspx?lvl=2&lvlID=195&ID=8142