o
a
By Henry Duv
When a baby is born, named,
then dies before his or her
first birthday, it may be dif­
ficult, especially for the parents
to find comfort in the thought
that "The Lord Giveth, and
the Lord T eth w y."
The mother and other loved
ones of the newb may
wonder hy the baby was
born in the first place, only to
live a few days, weeks or
months. I
This tragedy is all too real
among Black Americans, who
infants die at almost twice
the rate of white babies.
Why?
A tearn of Howard Uni-
ersity researcher has
launched a major five-year tudy
to determine the causes of
poor outcomes of pregnancy
among Black, aiming to un­
cover the roots of the problem.
"Although research is cur­
rently under way in everal
laboratories around the world,
we till do not know the specific
cau s of poor pregnancy out­
comes in Black populations,"
said Dr. Cecile H. Edwards,
project director and dean of
the Howard School of Human
Ecology addre ing a recent
conference at the university
focusing on the problem.
, e still do not fully under­
stand the rea ons for the high
infant mortality rate in the
United State ."
ore than 42 000 babie died
in thi country in 1982 before
th ir fir birthday, according
to govemm nt t ti tics.
The mortality rate for
Blac n tionally in
o
ac
1982 was 19.6 per 1 ,000 live
birth compared to the overall
national average of 11.5 death
per 1 ,000 live births.
Calling infants mortality a
erious national problem Ed­
wards indicated that it is
partially for this reason that
the Howard project - " u­
trition, Other Factors and the
Outcome of Pregnancy' - is
being funded by a $2.5-million
grant from the ational Institute
of Child He lth and Human
Development.
The Howard team, compo d
of researchers from the uni­
versity' S"hool of Human
Ecology and College of Medi­
cine as well as other experts,
is investigating the medical
nutritional, psychological socio­
economic, cultural, environ­
mental and other factors that
may affect the outcomes of
pregnancy.
The study will follo the
pregnancie of some 600 ex­
pectant mothers between the
ages of 18 and 35, who have
had no previous births. The
project, with the monitoring
phase at Howard University
Hospital is basically tapping
women residing in Washington,
D.C., which has an alarmingly
high- Black infant mortality
rate, Edwards, noted.
"Although inadequate pre­
natal care is one of the factors
that increase the ris of poor
pregnancy outcomes, it is now
clear that there are many
factors" said Edwards, naming
maternal smoking, age of the
expectant mother and poor
nutrition, to name a few.
The Howard study is pay-
BER 30 - OCTOBER 6,1985 THE CITIZEN
•
fa
ing pecial attention to nutrit­
ion. 'In recent year. a tre­
mendous surge of intere t h s
occurred in the relation of
nutrition to pregnancy �ut­
come ., said Edwards. a nutrit­
ion authority.
The univer ity's human
ecology nd medical hools
hosted a re e rch conference
Sept. 9 in conjunction with the
Howard niver ity utrition
Program Project, inviting me
of the nation's lead in experts
on prenatal care and pregnancy
outcomes to discuss factor
affecting pregnancy outcome
among Blacks. The conference
was intended to make po ible
"a giant leap" for re earchers
to develop pl n to c10 the
gap between Black and white
infant de th .
K yn te ker Dr. yron
10lC director f the In titute
of Hum nutrition at lum­
bia Univer tty emph ized, "It
is equally if not mor I im­
portant' in fetal outcome to
deal with factors prior to preg­
nancy.
He said that women plan­
ning to have children should
approach their 'Ideal weight"
before pregnancy, should try to
abstain from cigarette smoking
and alcohol consumption and
should take nutritional supple­
ments, such as iron and cal­
cium during the "prepreg­
nancy" period.
Inadequate management of
the prepregnancy stage for the
most part, accounts for pro­
blems plaguing adolescent
mothers he indicated.
Conference participant Dr.
F ariborz Rahbar, a neonatologist
Minority Business Week.
It could be
the most profitable time
you ever spent
between 9 and 5.
5
o
y
in Howard's department f
pediatric and child h alt h. dur­
in an intervie painted a
profile of a III ther wh ha an
infant wh die. Su h a mot her
is nonwhite. unmarri d and a
teen-ager: she did not e
phy ician during her pregnan y
or el e she waited until the la t
trimester of the pregnan y: he
did not get proper nutriti n.
or was an alcoh I or drug
abu er.
Such w men usually ive
birth to premature babies with
low birth weight - the primary
cause of infant death Rahbar
aid.
Edwards pointed ut that
low-birth-weight infant who
survive run the ri k of mental
retardation birth defects,
growth and developmental pr -
blems, vi ual and hearing de­
fects delayed peech and learn­
ing difficulties. ven pregnant
women who themselves were
born with low birth weights
are at inc rea ed ris of po r
f
ci e nomi
tutus, di paritie In
acce to early nd c ntinuou
maternity care. and di paritie
in dequate prenatal nutrition."
dw rd stressed.
The H ward project attempt
to enhance efforts to improve
the. ut me of pre nan' in
low-inc m women nati nally
a well globally where I
ioeconomic t tus, inade-
quate m ternal diet and other
di dv ntaae e ist.
"In four year • we h pe to
kn w the fa tors that are
responsible f r high infant
mortality.' aid Edward f I­
I wing the c nferencc. "In
the fifth ye r. we will pl n
interventions - ways tIer
the infant mortality rate. In
the c ntinuing year e will
te t the interventi n
t pr ve th y w r .
READE 5 W 1TE:
'The fate of the earth
hangs on reply'
Editor:
On July 2 ,the oviet Union
announced that it would ban the
testing of nu lear weapons from
August 6 to January 1 and
offered to extend tl e ban if
the United States 1 0 agre d
to stop testin. ithin 2
hour our government de-
nounced the viet offer a
"propaganda." It i difficult
to understand why President
conference trade show.
Activiti s vary from city to city. And it
doesn't end there. Minority Business
Week is just the first of a series of help­
ful programs from Lansi ng tai lored to
minority business. For more informa­
tion call 1-517-373- 430.
have the opportunity to meet repre­
sentatives from major firms and discuss
their programs to assist and encourage
minority business. You can participate
in discussions on starting your 0 n
business. Or display your product in a
ichigan minority business, the an
You could do something better for your
business than working between 9 and 5.
October 6 kicks off Minority Business
eek, and the theme of this year's
celebration is 'Mainstreaming Minority
Busine s in Michigan." Increase your
busines knowledge with a series of
exciting and informative seminars and
workshops on procurement, mar eting,
franchising and high tech.
Events will be held in Detroit, Flint
Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo. You II
Reagan did n t re p nd p it-
ively t th
invitati n t dialogu.
n ur country a f rd to re-
sp nd quic Iy nd .are-
.Ie sly when wh n the ate )
. the earth i at ta e? pre-
ariou w rid ituation call for
rea ned dipl mac and creative
respon e . e have nothinu t
1 e and much t gain by agr e­
ing to a m ratorium on. nu-
lear weap n te ting. S m
have crin ized previ u S viet
offers on the grounds that
verification was n t p ible.
Gorbachev s recent ffer i
appealing be ause it is clearly
verifiable.
In October, the Senate will
vote on a re olution ur ing
President Reagan to announce
testing moratorium at the
ovember Summit when he
meets with General Secretary
Gorbachev. As both couhtries
continue to build more wea­
pons daily, there is little time
left to avert a nuclear di ster.
Let us write to President
Reagan, urging him to seize
the Summit a a historic
opportunity to act as a man
of peace and to resp nd in
kind to Gorbachev.
Ann arie J uds n
J hn.P. Jud n, .0.
B nton Harbor
LL
616/927-1527 t
your CI ified or Di play
o