South Dakota’s First Lady says the state’s infant mortality rate dropped between 2012 and 2013. New numbers indicate there were 80 infant deaths last year-which equates to a rate of 6.5 deaths per 1,000 live births. That is a drop from 2012’s rate of 8.6 and is more in line with previous 20-year lows of 6.3 in 2011 and 6.4 in 2007. First Lady Linda Daugaard chaired the 2011 Governor’s Task Force on Infant Mortality, which recommended strategies like promoting safe sleep guidelines, increasing early prenatal care and decreasing smoking by pregnant women. She says last year’s drop in the number of infant deaths is good news, but the goal is to see that downward trend continue.
Daugaard says a program called South Dakota Cribs for Kids is providing portable cribs to families who show a financial need.
The Infant Mortality Task Force will meet November 12 in Sioux Falls to review the new data.