I believed Douglas and Clay counties in Georgia State of the US posed greater challenge in fighting the problem of African Americans’ infant mortality among age group 16 – 20 (Georgia Department of Public Health, n.d.). In terms of comparing infant mortality rate between African Americans and white persons, there seemed to display incomparable dissimilarity. According to an article presented by Hummer (1993), concerns over differentials of infant mortality between African-Americans and Anglos persist. The rate of African-American to Anglo infant mortality ratios were 1.6 in 1950,1.9 in 1960,2.0 in 1980, and about 2.2 by 1989 respectively. Additionally, the infant mortality rate among African Americans is not even close to meeting the 1990 goal of 12 deaths per 1,000 births that the U.S. Public Health Department set for all minority groups in 1979. Thus, despite overall reductions in infant mortality in the U.S., much recent research and public attention devoted to the correlation between race and infant mortality, the pressing problems of the high rate of infant mortality among African Americans, and large differentials between racial groups persist. Another learning lesson about the meaning of social change is the coded words of infant mortality, African American, minority groups and social change. The emergent theme seeks to show how infant mortality among African American remain relatively high despite changes in the healthcare sector.
Georgia Department of Public Health. (n.d.). Annual Report on Infant Mortality Rates. Retrieved from https://dph.georgia.gov/sites/dph.georgia.gov/files/MCH/RIM_Ga_2013report.pdf
Hummer, R. A. (1993). Racial Differentials in Infant Mortality in the U.S.: An Examination of Social and Health Determinants. Social Forces, 72(2), 528-554.
