NJ’s Black-White Infant Mortality Gap Is ‘Shameful’: Tammy Murphy

Black infants are more than three times more likely to die than white infants in New Jersey. And the gap is “shameful,” according to the state’s first lady.

The New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) announced Monday that despite having an overall infant mortality rate that’s below the national average, the state has a serious gap when it comes to race.

According to the NJDOH:

“Although the overall infant mortality rate in New Jersey is lower than the national rate (4.7 per 1,000 live births versus 5.9 per 1,000 live births in 2015), the disparity between white (3 per 1,000 births) and black infants (9.7 per 1,000 births) is extreme.”

First Lady Tammy Snyder Murphy said that all of New Jersey’s expectant mothers should be able to bring children into the world without fear.

“As a mother, I find it shameful that race persists as a factor in maternal health and infant mortality rates in our state,” Murphy said. “We can and must do better to make sure that mothers are not an afterthought and to ensure their health before, during and after childbirth.”

According to NJDOH Commissioner Shereef Elnahal, reducing the state’s infant mortality gap isn’t going to be an easy battle. It’s going to take a concerted effort from “community partners across the state” to combat a “lifetime of cultural and racial stressors in communities of color.”

The same old solutions aren’t enough, according to Elnahal, who identified “black infant and maternal mortality” as one of the top priorities for the Department of Health under the Murphy Administration when the governor appointed him as commissioner earlier this month.

“We want to try a different approach because key maternal and child health indicators have not improved over decades in the state, and significant racial and ethnic disparities persist,” Elnahal stated.

The state’s new tactic? A $4.3 million series of grants dubbed the “Healthy Women, Healthy Families” initiative.

On Monday, officials unveiled details about the plan, which will provide funding to community-based programs to target activities in “high-need” areas throughout New Jersey. Locations of top priority include Atlantic City, Camden, Trenton, East Orange, Irvington, Jersey City, Newark and Paterson.

According to the NJDOH, here are the goals of Healthy Women, Healthy Families:

“The community programs will use a two-pronged approach: 1) county-level activities that focus on providing high-risk families and women of child-bearing age access to information and referrals to community services that promote child and family wellness and 2) municipality-level activities that will focus on black women of child-bearing age and linking them to community supports, implementing specific black infant mortality programs, and providing education and outreach to health providers, social service providers and other community level stakeholders.”

State officials said that high-risk women include:

• those with low-income and/or uninsured
• women with chronic health conditions
• women with multiple social or economic stressors
• victims of domestic violence
• individuals impacted by mental health issues, alcoholism and substance abuse
• women with minimal social supports
• women with unintended pregnancies

“These women on average attend fewer prenatal visits and are more likely to experience adverse pregnancy outcomes,” the NJDOH stated.

In addition, their families are less likely to have access to “consistent, comprehensive preventive and primary care services,” NJDOH officials said.

Jackie Cornell, a deputy commissioner with the state Department of Health, told NJ Spotlight that other steps taken by the Murphy Administration to address the black-white infant mortality gap include expanding funding for women’s healthcare, supporting food and nutrition programs for pregnant women and infants, and focusing on efforts that help at-risk women have safe pregnancies and healthy babies.

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