the national average.
For every 9.7 deaths for every 1,000 births, 60% higher than the national average.
...
The data also show that the Black infant mortality rate in Mississippi was more than twice as high as the mortality rate for white infants in 2024.
" Trump put the team behind the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System on administrative leave earlier this year."
...
Edney is calling for an increase in prenatal care opportunities, expanding community health worker programs, and educating families on safe sleep practices.
However, recent Trump administration cuts to federal health programs may thwart Mississippi’s goal of reducing infant deaths.
Earlier this year, the administration axed the team behind the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, or PRAMS, which operates under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and maintains a dataset on U.S. births for OB-GYN research, MedPage Today reported. All 17 members received a reduction-in-force notice and were on administrative leave until June 2.
Experts who spoke to the health news site emphasized the program’s importance as a vital resource for research and said losing access to the surveillance data would be devastating.
...
Cuts to Medicaid under President Donald Trump’s so-called Big, Beautiful Bill present another challenge for some low-income and uninsured pregnant people in Mississippi. According to data by KFF Health News, 57% of births in Mississippi were covered by Medicaid in 2023.