Not being a huge fan of the Democratic party, I feel that I need to highlight matters that make voting for the Republican party unconscionable without the passion of a true believer.
Here is an abstract of a medical journal article on the racial disparity in infant mortality, preterm death, and stillbirth in 2011. Thankfully there is work going on to find solutions for the high rates in all groups, especially in the African American community.
Obstet Gynecol. 2011 Apr;117(4):948-55.
Disparities
in perinatal medicine: preterm birth, stillbirth, and infant mortality.
Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch, Eunice
Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development,
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
spongc@mail.nih.gov
Abstract
Infant mortality,
stillbirths, and preterm births are major public health priorities with
significant disparities based on race and ethnicity. Interestingly, when
evaluating the rates over the past 30 to 50 years, the disparity persists in
all three and is remarkably consistent. In the United States, the infant
mortality rate is 6.7 deaths per 1,000 live births, the stillbirth rate is 6.2
per 1,000 deliveries, and the preterm birth rate is 12.8% of live births. The
rates among non-Hispanic African Americans are dramatically higher, nearly
double the infant mortality at 13.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, nearly
double the stillbirth rate at 11.1 stillbirths per 1,000 deliveries, and one
third higher with preterm births at 18.4% of live births. Despite numerous
conferences, workshops, articles, and investigators focusing on this line of
work, the disparities persist and, in some cases, are growing. In this article,
we summarize a Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development workshop that focused on these disparities to identify the
associated factors to determine their relative contributions, identify gaps in
knowledge, and develop specific strategies to address the disparities in the
short-term and long-term.
Another example that I read in preparation for the Martin Luther King Celebration in January 2013 talks about the poverty that many, but especially children, are living in. According to the United States Census Bureau, 13.8 percent of Michigan residents lived below the poverty line in 2011. For children, however, the figure is much higher. In Michigan, 548,000 children, or 24.4 percent of all children in the state live in households earning less than $18,123 per year (for a family of four).
