The Mississippi State Department of Health on Thursday declared a public health emergency in response to a rising infant mortality rate in the state – most of which is occurring among Black babies.
In 2024, Mississippi saw its highest rate of infant deaths in over a decade.
Data shows the death rate for white infants in 2024 was one of the lowest of the last decade, while the rate for Black infants is the highest it’s been. Nearly twice as many Black infants as white ones died last year.
Mississippi is one of the poorest states and has long led the nation in infant mortality, but the worsening numbers and the growing racial disparities call for extraordinary measures, said State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney.
“It hasn’t been this bad in a long time,” Edney told Mississippi Today. “And that’s with a lot of us pushing hard to make it better. In the face of us, and so many partners all over the state, really leaning into this space, the numbers show significant worsening.”
Honour McDaniel Hill, director of Infant and Maternal Health Initiatives for March of Dimes, said declaring a public health emergency is not something she’s seen other states do in response to infant mortality in recent years. She called it an “interesting tactic” to move time, energy and resources to an important cause.
“What a public health emergency does is it allows a state entity – in this case the state Health Department – to put this on high alert, meaning funds can go here, personnel and people’s time and attention can go here,” McDaniel Hill said. “It really does kind of break this barrier.”
Edney said he hopes that with the emergency status, he’ll be able to develop a new system of care six months faster than he’d originally intended.
That OB System of Care, which has been in the works since 2023, involves designating birthing hospitals with different care levels – something called perinatal regionalization, which is used in many states. It also includes implementing transportation and tracking to make transfers of high-risk moms more efficient.
Edney said he hopes to have hospitals designated as early as October, but full implementation of the system could still take a couple of years.
This fall, Edney also hopes to have expanded perinatal services at county health departments in areas that are obstetric deserts, as part of a “multi-pronged strategy” response to the emergency.
Nearly half of Mississippi’s counties are maternity care deserts, McDaniel Hill said, and those counties make up nearly a quarter of the state’s births, making increased access a vital part of the solution.
Other strategies outlined in the State Health Department’s press release included allocating more staff to a home visitation program called Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies, and educating families on safe sleep practices to mitigate sudden infant death syndrome, one of the leading causes of infant mortality in the state.
The most recent March of Dimes report card for Mississippi included several policy recommendations the Legislature would be responsible for enacting, including expanding Medicaid to working people with modest salaries, which Republican Gov. Tate Reeves opposes. The Health Department did not mention Medicaid expansion in its plan Thursday.
Monica Stinson, senior program director of the Mississippi Perinatal Quality Collaborative, said her organization will play a central role in the emergency response, particularly by collaborating with community-based groups and connecting families with resources.
“The declaration is a powerful tool that helps centralize resources, align key partners, and remove barriers that have historically slowed progress,” Stinson said. “This formal recognition of the crisis allows us to move beyond fragmented efforts and toward a more coordinated, statewide strategy aimed at improving outcomes for all mothers and infants in Mississippi.”
