Philadelphia Receives Federal Grant To Help Bring Infant Mortality Rate Number Down
By Kim Glovas
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In an effort to decrease the number of infant deaths in Philadelphia, a $13.5 million grant has been awarded to two local agencies.
The Philadelphia Health Department and the Maternity Care Council applied for the very competitive federal grant, and won the award process.
JoAnne Fischer, executive director of the Council, says the MOMobile is one of the crowning achievements of the program and one of its goals is educating new moms.
"How to put their babies to sleep on their backs in an uncluttered crib and that is one of the major causes of infant mortality, are babies that die after they're born in unsafe sleep environments."
Federal figures show Philadelphia has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the nation, with 11.4 infant deaths for every thousand births.
For more information, visit: http://maternitycarecoalition.org/
You may also be interested in these stories: