From 2022 through 2024, Kalamazoo County recorded an infant mortality rate of 4.5 deaths per 1,000 live births.
That’s almost 2 percentage points less than Michigan’s 3-year aggregate infant mortality rate, according to data from The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
During the same time period, Kalamazoo County recorded the lowest Black infant mortality rate in the state at 7 deaths per 1,000 live births – also the lowest ever recorded in the county’s history since record keeping began.
Jameca Patrick-Singleton is the executive director of Cradle Kalamazoo, a nonprofit that works to reduce infant death and eliminate racial disparities in birth outcomes.
“While we’re encouraged by the numbers, we’re continuing to fight, we’re continuing to do what we need to do because even one baby dying in our community is one too many," Patrick-Singleton said.
On average across the country, data shows Black infants die at more than twice the rate of their white counterparts. Cradle Kalamazoo launched in 2014 as part of YWCA Kalamazoo with the explicit goal of eliminating disparities in outcomes between Black and White infants in Kalamazoo County.
From 2013-2015, Kalamazoo County recorded a 3-year aggregate Black infant mortality rate of 15.3 deaths per 1,000 live births — the fourth highest in the state at the time.
That was around the time of Cradle's inception — now, nearly a decade later, Kalamazoo County's Black infant mortality rate has been reduced by over 50% to the lowest in the state.
Patrick-Singleton says the numbers are a big win — but there's still more work to be done.
"Even though we are seeing numbers trend in the direction that we're wanting them to trend in, we know that this is a a marathon and not a sprint. However, we are very encouraged," Patrick-Singleton said.
The gap in infant death outcomes among white and Black infants also narrowed — in 2022-2024, Black infants died at 2.5 times the rate of white infants in Kalamazoo County. That’s a nearly 50% reduction from the previous three-year average, when Black infants died at 4.8 times the rate of white infants.
Ultimately, Cradle Kalamazoo's goal is to reduce the overall infant mortality rate in Kalamazoo County to no more than 3 deaths per 1,000 live births by the year 2030 with zero racial disparities.
To understand what is needed to achieve that, Patrick-Singleton says the organization does deep, detailed data analysis to pinpoint solutions. The county's Fetal-Infant Mortality Review Board assists with this by analyzing trends and making recommendations to reduce infant deaths.
"That team works in close partnership with Cradle to make sure that when we have an infant death, that we're looking at those cases at a 360 degree angle," Patrick-Singleton said. "We're looking at every single thing that happened and how and what we could have done to prevent, if possible, things from happening in the future."
Cradle then uses those recommendations to create programs and other resources for parents and families that aim to improve infant health outcomes.
The organization serves as a hub for parents to access resources like doula care, help with enrolling in financial assistance programs like Rx Kids, and even community baby showers that provide essential items for expecting families.
“As we’re seeing these numbers trend, we’re still in communication," Patrick-Singleton said. "Hey, what do we need to do now? How can we work closer together? What is it that our families need that we are able to provide? And what is it that our families need that we're still struggling to provide right now?"
