On February 25, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) released the 2018 Infant Mortality data report during an event with the Governor’s Office and the new Administrator of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) here in Columbus, OH.
ODH shared that the overall infant mortality rate dropped from 7.2 in 2017 to 6.9 in 2018, getting Ohio closer to meeting the Healthy People 2020 goal of 6.0 per 1,000 births. The decrease was due to a drop in the Non-Hispanic Black infant mortality rate for the first time in five years. The black infant mortality rate dropped from 15.6 in 2017 to 13.9 in 2018. That means 45 more families were able to celebrate their babies’ first birthday than in the previous year.