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Raising Awareness Of Infant Mortality

Health officials say Ohio has one of the highest rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in the nation.Nearly 11-hundred Ohio babies under the age of one died in their sleep last year. In Franklin County, 79 died in their sleep over the last three years. And Ohio's infant mortality rate is the 11th highest in the U.S., at 7.7 per 1-thousand live births. Katie Higgins of the Council on Healthy Mothers and Healthy Babies says the rate for African-Americans is higher. Higgins says some deaths may be prevented if the mother gets proper medical attention and the child gets pre-and-postnatal care. She says medical experts need to do a better job of educating parents about maternal obesity, tobacco and alcohol use during pregnancy, lack of  exercise, and the importance of good nutrition and breast feeding.  

Jim has been with WCBE since 1996. Before that he worked as a reporter at another Columbus radio station, and for three newspapers in Southwest Florida.