OHIO — In the last 10 years, Ohio has become one of the worst states in the U.S. for infant mortality, a new report shows.

The report from Groundwork Ohio, a nonprofit research organization that focuses on children, analyzed data from 2012 to 2022 on infant mortality in Ohio.

“A decade ago, Ohio faced a grim reality: its infant mortality rate ranked among the highest in the nation. Despite steady declines in infant deaths since the 1990s, Ohio had fallen behind most other states, with significant racial disparities exacerbating the issue,” wrote Lynanne Gutierrez, president and CEO of Groundwork Ohio, in the report.

Around 11 years ago, legislation came forth to lower the numbers in Ohio. Former State Senators Shannon Jones and Charleta Tavares helped pass Senate Bill 322 in 2012, which created the Ohio Commission on Infant Mortality and tried to provide more health care for mothers and their babies.

Now, with Jones being a senior adviser to Groundwork Ohio and Tavares being the CEO of PrimaryOne Health, they’re calling attention to the growing problem in the Buckeye State.

“Fast forward to today, and the latest data paints a disappointing picture. By 2022, Ohio’s IMR has improved but the disparity rate, or the difference between infant mortality rates for Black and white infants, has widened over time,” the senators wrote in the report.

While Ohio’s infant mortality rate steadily declined between 2012 to 2020, it started to tick back up during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between 2012 to 2020, the rate went from 7.6 deaths per 1,000 births in 2012 to 6.7 in 2020.

For white infants, that rate took a dive, going from 6.4 deaths per 1,000 births in 2012 to 5.1 in 2020.

However, for Black infants, that rate increased through 2017. Overall, rates for deaths of both white and Black babies increased since the start of the pandemic. The research notes the reason for this is not known, as this could be a short-term change or part of a larger trend.

The researchers state the most concerning part of the data is the disparity between the rates of deaths between white and Black babies.

For example, in 2022, Black infants were dying at 2.4 times the rate of white infants. The white infant mortality rate also went below the Healthy People goal of 6 deaths per 1,000 births in 2014 and stayed that way throughout the decade.

Part of the report highlighted Ohio’s Medicaid program, as it covers more than half of the births in Ohio, according to Groundwork Ohio. Specifically, in 2022, more than half of the infant deaths in the state had mothers who were covered by Medicaid.

The report then goes into how many mothers sought out prenatal care, postpartum follow-ups and more, which was data provided by Ohio’s survey called the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.

While that survey showed the state’s clinical metrics performed better than some other states and deemed the state’s Medicaid program the top 10 best for providing care after mothers get discharged, the report from Groundwork Ohio states that many women are too often not receiving care.

For Medicaid users, postpartum follow-ups were less than the national average for both Medicaid and other populations, and less than the overall state population.

Additionally, 12.8% of Medicaid patients had preterm births, which is much higher than the state overall (10.8%) and the nation (10.4%).

As for low birth-weight babies, Ohio’s rate is also higher than the national Medicaid average, the overall state average and the national average.

According to the report, 10 counties accounted for 84% of Ohio’s black infant deaths in 2020, as well as 62% of all infant deaths.

Through the Ohio Equity Institute, a collaboration between the Ohio Department of Health and local communities, officials are working to target the hardest-hit communities to address the racial inequities of birth outcomes. Since 2012, the OEI has worked to increase community engagement, fund strategies for potential solutions and more.

However, the study notes OEI isn’t a solution across the board.

“The state does not have the capacity to do deep collaborative work at the community level, but it can ensure that the providers come to the table along with the women directly affected by the policies and hold all accountable for outcomes,” the study stated.

Additionally, Ohio has tried to increase investment in home visiting services, but again, the study notes it’s not reaching all the families who really need it.

“Ohio has been able to substantially increase investment in home visiting to ensure that more parents and children are able to benefit from the program. Even with expansion, home visiting is still missing many families, particularly those who are harder to reach and engage—those who would benefit from the service the most,” the study states.

Overall, Groundwork Ohio said momentum for the cause has slowed since the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly due to a shift in focus.

“Almost four and half years later, the state still lacks an updated state health assessment and state health improvement plan that sets the goals and strategies to address maternal and child health as well as other pressing health needs of our state,” the study states.

Groundwork Ohio calls for Ohio to improve its state health improvement plan, which has targets for decreasing the infant mortality rate. According to the report, the 2017-2019 plan set a target for reducing infant mortality to fewer than 6 deaths per 1,000 births by 2022.

Then, the 2020-2022 plan maintained that goal, but instead, decided to push the target date for the goal to 2028. A new, updated plan hasn’t been released since then.

Overall, the report calls for an increased collaboration among state and local levels to help decrease the states infant mortality rate.

“Achieving meaningful change requires strong, consistent, and accountable leadership at both the state and local levels, with an unwavering focus on improving the health and well-being of Ohio’s mothers and infants. The slow pace of progress over the past decade demands a renewed and united commitment from all stakeholders to prioritize maternal and infant health and to hold themselves accountable through data-driven results,” Jones and Tavares wrote in the report.