Ohio’s infant mortality rate is among the worst in the nation. More than seven of every thousand babies born here died before their first birthday in 2023.
But while that statewide number has remained relatively stagnant for the past decade, infant mortality in one Ohio city has drastically declined.
Now the state is endeavoring to expand Cincinnati’s success through an initiative called Partner for Change.
Infant mortality in Cincinnati
In 2011, Hamilton County had the second highest rate of infant mortality in the country. Parents were 70% more likely to lose a baby before their first birthday there than in the nation as a whole.
So the county got to work. It taught moms about not smoking during pregnancy, spacing pregnancies out by at least 12 months and putting babies to sleep on their backs.
Meredith Smith, executive director of Cradle Cincinnati, said those efforts worked — for white moms and babies.
“But it was leaving out something for Black women,” she said. “That number was stubborn. And part of the problem was we didn't ask them, and so we created interventions that weren't working for them.”
In Ohio, and across the country, Black infants die at about twice the rate of white infants.
So Smith created space for Black women to come together to take care of themselves and each other. It’s called Queens Village.
“Queens Village was a process of asking Black women what they want, and how we can support lowering Black infant mortality specifically,” Smith said. “It is now thousands of Black women in Hamilton County who gather together to rest, relax, repower and hold systems accountable.”
Conversations from that group, she said, have sparked meaningful solutions that have moved the needle on Black infant mortality in Cincinnati.
Creating change
Now, Cradle Cincinnati actively amplifies Black women’s voices. It’s created advisory boards at hospitals across the city to connect administrators and nurses with new moms like India Brown.
“So we're all listening to each other, we're talking to each and we're coming up with solutions together,” Brown said.
As the mom of a two-and-a-half-year-old, she’s raised questions about the possibilities of postpartum care — like could community health workers follow up with moms not just weeks after a baby is born, but months or even years after too?
“We don't know. We're just asking those questions. We're being audacious,” she said. “And we're saying, what does that look like, to check in on mom and not just say, ‘Hey, are you sleeping?’ Because you know you're not, right?”
Hospitals then track the changes they implement and make data publicly available, so expecting parents can see it and decide where they want to get their care.
This work has been so successful that the county’s Black infant mortality rate dropped from 13.7 deaths per thousand live births in 2022 to 9.0 in 2023.
“The thing that makes everything work is [Cradle Cincinnati] champions Black women, they champion Black moms and they champion our Black babies,” Brown said. “I think when you are trying to serve people, you have to look to them as experts. If you don't, then you're not going to be able to ever fully serve them. And so I think that's the wonderful thing that happens here.”
Overall, Hamilton County’s infant mortality rate dropped from 8.7 deaths in 2022 to 5.5 in 2023 — marking the first time since recording began in the ‘60s that the rate came in below the national average.
“It’s the innovation of the collective impact in Hamilton County,” Smith said. “So many people are working together and rowing in the same direction, which is why we are having such great progress here.”
Expanding the model
But other Ohio cities aren’t seeing the same success.
At the same time Hamilton County’s infant mortality rate was falling, it was climbing in Lucas County.
“We're still lagging behind, both from a statewide standpoint and certainly nationally like the rest of Ohio too,” said Hayley Studer, president of the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio in Toledo.
Infant mortality rates in cities like Dayton, Cleveland and Columbus are high too.
So, in April, the governor’s office launched a new initiative called Partner for Change. This summer, folks from Cradle Cincinnati are visiting with organizations like Studer’s in each of those cities — helping them adapt the program to fit the needs of their communities.
“We have so many resources here,” Studer said. “We are not a poor state overall, comparatively speaking on things, so this should not be an issue and is something that should be largely preventable.”
Preliminary numbers show Ohio’s infant mortality rate fell last year to the lowest number in 20 years.
Perhaps expanding this model, Studer said, will help even more babies across the state celebrate their first birthday.
