Addressing Black Infant Mortality Through Harnessing the Power of Community

Abstract

In Hamilton County, Ohio, the infant mortality rate is above the national average and the Black infant mortality rate is more than 3 times the white infant mortality rate. These racial disparities in infant mortality cannot be explained through other socio-economic characteristics like education, income, housing, or medical insurance. Research has shown that racism, not race itself, is the driving force behind the high disparity in infant mortality rates in Hamilton County and the nation as well. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Institute of Medicine have long cited institutional/structural racism and cultural racism as a key factor in health disparity. A paradigm shift needed to occur to address the consequences of racism within the lives of Black women, namely disempowerment and agency. The Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) model was which engaged Black women and positioned them as an asset, to share in the process of strategizing, creating, and implementing a plan. Queens Village was founded to implement the CSDH model and address the upstream determinants of infant mortality through cultivating a sense of community.