contln
A7
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ISK CTO , lik smo -
ing, can turn into a kind of dom­
ino effect, with one abu e
leading to another, which can
lead to AIDS high ria catego­
ries, she id.
"We need to look at some of
the entry kinds ofbehavio that
put young people at risk," An-
thony said. .
But when it comes to preven­
tion, there cannot be a focus on
contlnu
A1
tate' ab program and in-
creasing family planning, An­
thony id.
"We've had a 4 percent in­
in the last two years in
pregnant women coming in for
ub tance bu e treatment,"
Anthony id.
Frequently pregnant women
involved in ubstance abuse do
not k help or get it too late to
help their child.
&tiona! Rainbow Coalition
Office of Field Director
1700 K Street, N. W. 1800
W . gton, DC 20006
"It' n city-wide problem,
n aim t bre it down to
nd oommuniti where
you to have the problem,"
aid Public Health Director
Verni D vis Anthony. "That
will th n give us some informa­
tion to what hould be our
intervention trategy. "
Voice:
202728-1180
THE ABST ENCE pro­
gram will targe 9 to 14-year­
olds and try to get them to delay
�activity.
Teen pregnancy' the most
ignifiamt factor that leads to a
life of lfare and dependency, ..
Anthony. id
While infant mortality
among teens is no high accord­
ing to Anthony, it is very high
among women in their early
t enti having a third or fourth
chi I .
Infant mortality in Michigan
and a the nation is decreas­
ing but the gap between Black
and white infant mortality is in­
creasing in the tate.
In 1992, the Blac infant
mortality rate in Michigan
about 22 � 1,000
white 10
births Anthony said.
Gr at
LOW BIR:TH weight is
leading factor � infant death.
In Michigan the rate for Blacks
is three times that of whites.
In addition to the abstinence
campaign, the department is de­
veloping models for providing
family planning in oonjunction
with substance abuse services to
discourage pregnancy among
addicts.
Facto that oontribute to low
birth weight include smoking,
ubstance abuse, lack of prena­
tal care, spacing of births and
number of children.
Efforts already under way in­
clude expanding the availability
of prenatal care, discouraging
smoking, providing female sub­
stance abuse specialists in the
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