Officials are raising awareness of a serious problem in southwest Indiana: infant mortality.
During a conference at the Vanderburgh County Health Department, 36 small red hats were on display, representing local children who died last year before their first birthday.
The infant mortality rate in southwest Indiana in 2014 was 9.4 deaths for every one-thousand births. That’s higher than the state average of just over 7 per 1,000, and the national average of about six infant deaths per 1,000 births.
Officials say the primary factors that contribute to infant mortality are smoking while pregnant, limited prenatal care, obesity, and unsafe sleep practices for the baby.
In Indiana, nearly 16-percent of pregnant women smoke -- which is twice the national average -- and more than a quarter of pregnant women who receive Medicaid smoke.
Officials also say only about two-thirds of pregnant women in Indiana receive prenatal care in the first trimester, and obese women are 25-to-33 percent more likely to deliver prematurely.
The local health department has put together a regional coalition of health professionals to improve the lives of mother and babies in Southwest Indiana.
The state department of health has made reducing infant mortality its number one priority for 2016.