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Rural Delta counties have highest infant mortality rates in state, new report shows

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1 year ago

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Every region in Mississippi ranked higher in infant mortality than the national average of 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to the state’s 2021 Mississippi Infant Mortality Report released last week.

This report comes one month after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data showing that Mississippi’s infant mortality rate reached a five-year high while the national rate remained relatively stable from 2020 to 2021. That report also showed that the state continues to lead the nation in babies who die before their first birthday.

In 2021, 327 Mississippi babies died before the age of one, according to the state’s report. 

The leading causes of infant death in Mississippi are prematurity, low birthweight, birth defects and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Babies whose deaths were caused by SIDS also reached a 10-year high in Mississippi in 2021, the report said. 

“Mississippi also has the highest premature birth rate in the nation, and this drives our high infant mortality rate,” said Dr. Anita Henderson, a pediatrician and past president of the Mississippi chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “We encourage all moms to get in to see their OBs in their first trimester for optimal prenatal care.”

While deliveries of babies with very low birthweight (defined as less than 3.3 pounds) decreased from 2020 to 2021, most infant deaths in the state still occurred in infants born with very low birthweight, according to the report. The statistic is more dire for Black babies, who saw three times as many deaths due to prematurity and very low birthweight than their white counterparts in 2021.

Henderson said lack of access to health care in Mississippi is contributing to high rates of prematurity and infant mortality.

“Presumptive eligibility for moms on Medicaid would facilitate timely access to prenatal care for that critical, first trimester OB visit. Over half of the counties in Mississippi do not have an OB or a delivering hospital,” she said.

Pregnancy presumptive eligibility, which Mississippi does not have, allows women to receive care during pregnancy, even if they’re not on Medicaid. Providers can enroll their pregnant patients and start billing Medicaid, which reimburses them without delays or questions.

The new report also detailed each county's average infant mortality rate over a 10-year period, showing that only two counties – Rankin and Smith – met the national recommendation of no more than five infant deaths per 1,000 live births. The other 80 counties were above that recommendation, with 31 counties seeing at least twice the recommended rate.

The three counties with the highest 10-year averages were rural counties in the Delta. Issaquena County had the highest rate in the state at 18.7 infant deaths per 1,000 births. Humphreys and Quitman counties were the other two, with rates of 16.9 and 15.8, respectively.

Following the closure of the only neonatal intensive care unit in the Delta, in addition to a labor and delivery unit at a Greenwood hospital, State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney announced at a July Board of Health meeting a proposal for an “OB system of care,” which would model itself after other systems of care in Mississippi.

“We’re losing too many babies in transfer,” Edney recently said to a legislative committee. The proposed system would evacuate high-risk pregnant women in rural areas to either Children’s of Mississippi in Jackson or out of state.

When asked for updates about how the system of care would work, including what states Mississippi would model its system on, officials with the Mississippi Department of Health did not respond by the time of publication.  

Edney was also not available to comment on the latest report, though he said in September the numbers are “extremely concerning.”  

Infant morbidity, which the report defines as “any condition that adversely impacts the ability of newborns to survive and thrive,” highlights numerous racial and socioeconomic disparities.

Twice as many Black women as white women in Mississippi are diagnosed with preexisting hypertension, one of the leading causes of infant and maternal morbidity and mortality.

The report referenced a study from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that found that pregnant women on Medicaid have an increased risk of complications and poor fetal outcomes when compared to women on private insurance. That is significant in Mississippi, where, according to the report, “an estimated 22,633 deliveries are from women who have Medicaid insurance” – nearly two-thirds of the 35,156 live births that occurred in the state in 2021. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi lawmakers end 2025 session unable to agree (or even meet about) state budget: Legislative recap

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13 hours ago

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April 7, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @GeoffPender – 2025-04-07 11:50:00

by Geoff Pender, Mississippi Today
April 7, 2025

Infighting between Mississippi’s Republican House and Senate legislative leaders reached DEFCON 4 as the 2025 legislative session sputtered to a close last week.

Lawmakers gaveled out unable to set a $7 billion state budget — their main job — or to even agree to negotiate. Gov. Tate Reeves will force them back into session sometime before the end of the fiscal year June 30. At a press conference last week, the governor assured he would do so but did not give a timetable, other than saying he plans to give lawmakers some time to cool off.

The crowning achievement of the 2025 session was passage of a tax overhaul bill a majority of legislators accidentally voted for because of errors in its math. House leaders and the governor nevertheless celebrated passage of the measure, which will phase out the state individual income tax over about 14 years, more quickly trim the sales tax on some groceries to 5% raise the tax on gasoline by 9 cents a gallon, then have automatic gas tax increases thereafter based on the cost of road construction.

The error in the Senate bill accidentally removed safeguards that chamber’s leadership wanted to ensure the income tax would be phased out only if the state sees robust economic growth and controls spending.

The rope-a-dope the House used with the Senate errors to pass the measure also stripped a safeguard House leaders had wanted: a 1.5 cents on the dollar increase in the state’s sales tax, which would have brought it to 8.5%. House leaders said such an increase was needed to offset cutting more than $2 billion from the state’s $7 billion general fund revenue by eliminating the income tax, and to ensure local governments would be kept whole.

Reeves was nonplussed about the flaws in the bill he signed into law (at one point denying there were errors in it) and called it “One big, beautiful bill,” borrowing a phrase from President Donald Trump.

https://youtu.be/8ovOtFj0vFE

Quote of the Week

“Quite frankly, I think it’s chicken shit what they did.” — Gov. Tate Reeves, at a press conference last week when asked his thoughts about the Senate rejecting his nomination of Cory Custer, Reeves’ deputy chief of staff, to serve as four-year term on the board of Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

Full Legislative Coverage

What happened (or didn’t) in the rancorous 2025 Mississippi Legislative session?

Mississippi Today’s political team unpacks the just ended — for now — legislative session, that crashed at the end with GOP lawmakers unable to pass a budget after much infighting among Republican leaders. The crowning achievement of the session, a tax overhaul bill, was passed by accident and full of major errors and omissions. Listen to the podcast.

Gov. Tate Reeves, legislative leaders tout tax cut, but for some, it could be a tax increase

Many of those retirees who do not pay an income tax under state law and other Mississippians as well will face a tax increase under this newly passed legislation touted by Reeves and others. Read the column.

Trump administration slashes education funding. Mississippi leaders and schools panic

Mississippi schools and the state education system are set to lose over $137 million in federal funds after the U.S. Department of Education halted access to pandemic-era grant money, state leaders said this week. Read the story.

Gov. Tate Reeves says he’ll call Mississippi lawmakers back in special session after they failed to set budget

Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday said he will call lawmakers into a special session to adopt a budget before state agencies run out of money later in the summer and hinted he might force legislators to consider other measures.  Read the story.

GOP-controlled Senate rejects governor’s pick for public broadcasting board. Reeves calls it ‘chicken s–t’

The Senate on Wednesday roundly rejected the nomination of Cory Custer, Reeves’ deputy chief of staff, to serve a four-year term on the board of directors of Mississippi Public Broadcasting, the statewide public radio and television network. Reeves reacted to the Senate’s vote on Thursday, calling it “chicken shit.” Read the story.

Early voting proposal killed on last day of Mississippi legislative session

Mississippi will remain one of only three states without no-excuse early voting or no-excuse absentee voting.  Read the story.

Mississippi Legislature ends 2025 session without setting a budget over GOP infighting 

The House on Wednesday voted to end what had become a futile legislative session without passing a budget to fund state government, for the first time in 16 years. The Senate is expected to do the same on Thursday.  Read the story.

Mississippi Legislature approves DEI ban after heated debate

Mississippi lawmakers have reached an agreement to ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs and a list of “divisive concepts” from public schools across the state education system, following the lead of numerous other Republican-controlled states and President Donald Trump’s administration.   Read the story.

Fear and loathing: Legislative session crashes with lawmakers unable to set a budget because of Republican infighting

Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and other Senate leaders on Saturday excoriated the Republican House leadership, after the House didn’t show up for what was supposed to be “conference weekend” to haggle out a $7 billion budget. Read the story.

‘We’ll go another year’ without relief: Pharmacy benefit manager reform likely dead

Hotly contested legislation that aimed to increase the transparency and regulation of pharmacy benefit managers appeared dead in the water Tuesday after a lawmaker challenged the bill for a rule violation. Read the story.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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On this day in 1909, Matthew Henson reached the North Pole

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2 days ago

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April 6, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-06 07:00:00

by Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Today
April 6, 2025

April 6, 1909

Matthew Henson arrived ahead of the Admiral Peary Expedition to plant the American flag at the North Pole.

Matthew Henson reached the North Pole, planting the American flag. Traveling with the Admiral Peary Expedition, Henson reportedly reached the North Pole almost 45 minutes before Peary and the rest of the men. 

“As I stood there on top of the world and I thought of the hundreds of men who had lost their lives in the effort to reach it, I felt profoundly grateful that I had the honor of representing my race,” he said. 

While some would later dispute whether the expedition had actually reached the North Pole, Henson’s journey seems no less amazing. 

Born in Maryland to sharecropping parents who survived attacks by the KKK, he grew up working, becoming a cabin boy and sailing around the world. 

After returning, he became a salesman at a clothing store in Washington, D.C., where he waited on a customer named Robert Peary. Pearywas so impressed with Henson and his tales of the sea that he hired him as his personal valet. 

Henson joined Peary on a trip to Nicaragua. Impressed with Henson’s seamanship, Peary made Henson his “first man” on the expeditions that followed to the Arctic. When the expedition returned, Peary drew praise from the world while Henson’s contributions were ignored. 

Over time, his work came to be recognized. In 1937, he became the first African-American life member of The Explorers Club. Seven years later, he received the Peary Polar Expedition Medal and was received at the White House by President Truman and later President Eisenhower. 

“There can be no vision to the (person) the horizon of whose vision is limited by the bounds of self,” he said. “But the great things of the world, the great accomplishments of the world, have been achieved by (people with) … high ideals and … great visions. The path is not easy, the climb is rugged and hard, but the glory at the end is worthwhile.” 

Henson died in 1955, and his body was re-interred with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. The U.S. Postal Service featured him on a stamp, and the U.S. Navy named a Pathfinder class ship after him. In 2000, the National Geographic Society awarded him the Hubbard Medal.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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A win for press freedom: Judge dismisses Gov. Phil Bryant’s lawsuit against Mississippi Today

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3 days ago

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April 5, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @GanucheauAdam – 2025-04-04 13:35:00

by Mississippi Today, Mississippi Today
April 4, 2025

Madison County Circuit Court Judge Bradley Mills dismissed former Gov. Phil Bryant’s defamation lawsuit against Mississippi Today on Friday, ending a nearly two-year case that became a beacon in the fight for American press freedom.

For the past 22 months, we’ve vigorously defended our Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting and our characterizations of Bryant’s role in the Mississippi welfare scandal. We are grateful today that the court, after careful deliberation, dismissed the case.

The reporting speaks for itself. The truth speaks for itself.

This judgment is so much more than vindication for Mississippi Today — it’s a monumental victory for every single Mississippian. Journalism is a public good that all of us deserve and need. Too seldom does our state’s power structure offer taxpayers true government accountability, and Mississippians routinely learn about the actions of their public officials only because of journalism like ours. This reality is precisely why we launched our newsroom nine years ago, and it’s why we devoted so much energy and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending ourselves against this lawsuit. It was an existential threat to our organization that took time and resources away from our primary responsibilities — which is often the goal of these kinds of legal actions. But our fight was never just about us; it was about preserving the public’s sacred, constitutional right to critical information that journalists provide, just as our nation’s Founding Fathers intended.

Mississippi Today remains as committed as ever to deep investigative journalism and working to provide government accountability. We will never be afraid to reveal the actions of powerful leaders, even in the face of intimidation or the threat of litigation. And we will always stand up for Mississippians who deserve to know the truth, and our journalists will continue working to catalyze justice for people in this state who are otherwise cheated, overlooked, or ignored.

We appreciate your support, and we are honored to serve you with the high quality, public service journalism you’ve come to expect from Mississippi Today.

READ MORE: Judge Bradley Mills’ order dismissing the case

READ MORE: Mississippi Today’s brief in support of motion to dismiss

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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