ATLANTA — Having a baby in Georgia is riskier than almost every other state in the United States.
The March of Dimes report card gives Georgia and most of the southeastern U.S. a failing grade when it comes to infant mortality.
The stats are worse when you look at Black communities.
It’s a reality Denielle McCray and her husband know well.
Their daughter Shelea spent 108 days in NICU.
“I had my firstborn at 27 weeks and 6 days,” McCray told Channel 2′s Wendy Corona.
A placenta abruption caused the pre-term birth.
“I was doing all the right things. I was thinking, did I do something wrong to cause this? But, it literally came out of the blue,” McCray said.
The March of Dimes gives Georgia an “F” on pre-term birth rates, which are any births before 37 weeks.
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Since 2016, Georgia has had a pre-term birth rate of more than 11%. Black babies are 1.5 times more likely to be born pre-term than all other babies. They also have the highest death rate at 10.86 per one thousand births in the United States.
The director of maternal and child health collective impact for the March of Dimes, Tama Mason, told Corona the data cannot be ignored.
“Access to care is definitely a huge reason why we see that failing grade,” Mason said.
Half of Georgia’s 159 counties do not have an OB-GYN. Add onto that the hospital closures across the state; maternity care deserts are growing.
“March of Dimes has also been saying we need to close the health equity gap,” Mason said.
Pre-term birth is one of the leading causes of infant death in the United States and the world. Even then, Doctor Mattie Wolf, neonatologist at Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, told Corona the babies who do make it to their first birthday face challenges.
“Lung disease and asthma, to things like developmental delays and mental health conditions,” Wolf said.
With the overall U.S. score only slightly better than a D+, the March of Dimes is emphasizing advocacy, research, education, and direct service programs to try and close the equity gap.
Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have fully expanded Medicaid. Georgia has not. It’s an issue Georgia lawmakers recently spoke about at the State Capitol.
“It is a medical emergency in our state that continues to happen, and it is completely preventable,” state Rep. Ruwa Romman, D-Gwinnett County, said.
She and other Democratic lawmakers discussed Medicaid expansion in February.
In the meantime, McCray is pitching to NICU parents by offering comfort, lending support and hearing them out as they navigate the NICU. Her daughter is now thriving.
At 3-and-a-half years old, she’s moving toward physical milestones like walking on her own.
Shelea’s steps are steady as she grows into herself, despite an early birth.
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