Generate Health is bringing the pressing issue of infant mortality to light in the St Louis region, and the organization continues to grow, expand, and inform the community. According to data from 2004 infant death is St Louis city were 9.6 per 1,000 live births. Data for St. Louis county states that infant deaths for the county were 8.2 per 1000 live births. Both St. Louis city and St. Louis country have a higher infant mortality rate than Missouri state as a whole. Missouri has an infant mortality rate of 7.5 deaths per 1,000 live births. While Generate Health is working hard to bring awareness of maternal and child health to the region, more needs to be done for the St. Louis metropolitan area to address the underlying determinants …show more content…
Louis would be to address the public transportation issue in the area. Advocating for better transportation in the area would allow low income women in the area to better access prenatal care at primary care offices, hospitals, and federally qualified health centers. Transportation plays a big role in whether people can get access to proper care. If women do not have an efficient means to get to appointments they are less likely to get the proper prenatal and postnatal care that they desperately need. The bus schedules do not allow for convenience, and the metrolink does not cover a majority of the metropolitan area. St. Louis could learn a lot from cities like Chicago, New York, and San Francisco to model upgrades for our public transportation. In addition to transportation poverty is another major issue that is a predictor of infant mortality rates. According to United Way reports, they find …show more content…
There are many things that we can do as public health workers to improve health outcomes for infants within the first year of life. We can advocate for paid family leave to our legislators, starting with Missouri, and with Washington D.C. We can improve non profit organizations like Generate Health and the United Way by spreading the word of their services they offer to the community. We can develop health campaigns to educate the community and women on the importance of proper prenatal and postnatal care. Globally we can provide education, and resources to underdeveloped nations to improve their infant mortality