Why Do Black Babies Die More Often Than White Babies?

2008-10-28T19:23:59.000Z

SAVE THE DATE: A free community forum on November 5 at The California Endowment (3 p.m. – 6 p.m.)
featuring Tyan Parker Dominguez and other USC experts.

Why do infant mortality rates among African Americans remain more than twice as high as among white Americans? Although birth outcomes are generally better for those with higher education and income, black women with college degrees are still more likely to give birth prematurely than white women who haven’t even finished high school.

Researchers are circling in on a provocative explanation: the chronic stress of racism can become embedded in the body, taking a heavy toll on African American families and on children even before they leave the womb.

Tyan Parker Dominguez, who will lead a panel of USC experts to unravel the mystery of black/white differences in infant mortality.

BACKGROUND: This event is being organized in conjunction with a special PBS series called UNNATURAL CAUSES … Is Inequality Making Us Sick?, which criss-crosses the country investigating the stories and findings that are shaking up conventional notions about what makes us healthy or sick.

It turns out there’s much more to our well-being than genes, behaviors and medical care. The social, economic, and physical environments in which we are born, live and work profoundly affect our longevity and health – as much as smoking, diet and exercise.

The series sheds light on mounting evidence of how lack of access to power and resources can get under the skin and disrupt human biology as surely as germs and viruses.

RSVP to SWEVENTS@USC.EDU

http://unnaturalcauses.org/video_clips_detail.php?res_id=70

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Why Do Black Babies Die More Often Than White Babies?