In Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan, Black babies are three times more likely than white babies to die before their first birthday, and the problem is only getting worse.

Data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ annual infant mortality report shows that while overall Black infant mortality increased from 13.4 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2011-13 to 14.2 in 2020-2022, the general infant mortality rate declined from 5.3 to 4.5, according to MLive.

“These numbers are alarming,” Delicia Pruitt, medical director at the Saginaw County Health Department, told the news site. “No parent wants to lose their child.”

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The data reveals that in a dozen of Michigan’s 83 counties with the most Black residents, death rates for babies increased in 2020-22, in some cases jumping by an average of three deaths for Black babies per 1,000 births.

In Berrien County, the rate for black babies jumped from 17.3 to 19.2, while the numbers went from 14.3 to 17.3 in Saginaw County, and from 10.1 to 13 in Ingham County.

In the top 10 Michigan counties with the highest infant mortality, half reported increases between 2011 and 2022: Saginaw, Clinton, Wayne, Genesee, and Jackson. Counties with the highest infant mortality rates in the Black community include St. Clair at 37.8 deaths per 1,000 births, Berrien at 19.2, Jackson at 19, Saginaw, Wayne 15.7, Genesee at 15.7, Muskegon at 14.5, Kent at 14.2, Ingham at 13, and Washtenaw at 12.6.

“Unsafe sleep practices are a significant factor contributing to infant mortality in Saginaw County,” Pruitt said, noting a connection between sudden infant death syndrome and how babies are put to sleep.

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Avoiding what’s known as “crib death,” she said, boils down to the ABCs: ensuring infants are Alone, on their Back, and in a Crib.

“More kids with SIDS are found on their stomachs,” she said. “Every time you put the baby down, you need to put them in a safe and separate place.”

“These aren’t bad moms,” Kelly Ellis, nurse practitioner at CMU Health, told MLive. “They just made a mistake or were unlucky. No one wants this.”

The CMU Health Center Pregnancy program Ellis leads focuses on educating and supporting mothers to prevent the tragedies, she said, while the American Academy of Pediatrics attributes much of the problem to “structural racism and unequal access to health, social and educational resources” that “further amplify … risks.”

A 2024 March of Dimes Report Card for Michigan highlighted Michigan’s stubbornly high Black infant mortality rate, frustrating a SOS MATERNITY Network that’s working to do something about it.

“While we take pride in the medical advancements achieved over decades, it is disheartening and unacceptable that both the United States and Michigan continue to face alarmingly high rates of maternal and infant mortality compared to most developed countries,” Sonia Hassan, the network’s coordinator, wrote in an editorial for The Detroit News.

Michigan’s infant mortality rate in the March of Dimes Report Card, based on 2022 data from the National Center for Health Statistics, was at 6.4 deaths per 1,000, well above the U.S. rate of 5.6, ranking the state 34^th nationally.

The report card graded Michigan a D+ for infant mortality, in part because the statewide rate of 6.4 deaths was worse than the 6.2 documented in the prior year’s report.

In terms of Michigan’s 10.3% preterm birth rate, March of Dimes gave a Michigan C-, slightly better than 2023, and ranked the state 26^th nationally, though some areas of the state are significantly worse than others.

Detroit, Michigan’s largest city, came in last among 100 U.S. cities with the greatest number of live births with a preterm birth rate of 15.6%.

“These are not just statistics. Each fatality devastates families across our community: the Michigan Maternal Mortality Surveillance Program reports that almost three-quarters of the state’s reviewed pregnancy-related deaths were preventable,” Hassan wrote.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s DHHS contends the numbers point to barriers to care that “persist for Black women and birthing people from marginalized communities,” and “underscore systemic inequities, social biases, racism, and discrimination.”

Despite the failure of a Mother Infant Health & Equity Improvement Plan to reduce infant mortality between 2020 and 2023, the Whitmer administration is now banking on a new Advancing Healthy Births plan for 2024-2028 to turn things around.

SOS MATERNITY, meanwhile, is calling on the state’s health care providers, community advocates and patient populations to take real actions that will actually make a difference.

“Recognizing that this crisis cannot be tackled alone, 14 leading universities and health care systems across Michigan have established SOS MATERNITY, a first-of-its-kind network seeking to end preventable causes of death in mothers and children,” Hassan wrote. “This initiative is a critical step toward unifying our efforts to save lives. We are creating a robust framework for improving maternal and infant health outcomes by implementing best practices, providing transportation and employing navigators to support patients’ care needs throughout pregnancy.”

“Our historic statistics on infant and maternal deaths are stark, but they do not have to remain our future,” she wrote.