Contact: Colleen Roche or Dwight Williams (212) 788-2958
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani announced today that the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in New York City for 1996 dropped to an historic low and for the first time in the City's history, the number of deaths of infants under one year of age dropped to fewer than 1,000.
Joining the Mayor at a press conference at Metropolitan Hospital, were Dr. Benjamin Mojica, Acting Commissioner of the Health Department; Dr. Rosa Gil, Chairman of the Board of the Health and Hospitals Corporation; and Jos‚ S nchez, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Hospital.
"I am very pleased to announce that in 1996 -- for the first time in the City's history -- the number of deaths of infants under the age of one year has dropped below 1,000. The City also achieved an all-time low in the number of infant deaths ever recorded in one year," Mayor Giuliani said.
"While no one causal factor can be singled out, several programs administered by the Department of Health and the Health and Hospitals Corporation certainly contributed to our success. Improved access to prenatal care, declining incidence of cocaine and other substance abuse in pregnant women; declining incidence of sexually transmitted diseases during pregnancy; and advances in medicine that improve the chances for survival of the most at-risk babies are just some of the factors responsible for this historic drop.
"I commend New York City's Health Department for its commitment to providing health services, education and information to our communities, and I look forward to further successes in preventing infant deaths," the Mayor added.
Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Benjamin Mojica explained the figures. He said, "New York City's provisional Infant Mortality Rate for 1996 was 7.8 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, based on a total of 992 infants who died at less than one year of age. There was a total of 126,916 live births." Dr. Mojica added that final infant mortality rates were expected to be completed and released by early summer.
Dr. Rosa Gil, Special Advisor to the Mayor for Health Policy, said "As a result of this Administration's commitment to primary care, the City has seen a dramatic improvement in the availability of primary care. This new emphasis has seen real results. For instance, as announced today, we have seen major declines in infant mortality and also infectious tuberculosis over the past three-and-a-half years. In fact, in 1994, the year that Mayor Giuliani took office, there were 1,207 infant deaths and the IMR was 9.0. The rate has dropped more than 13% since then."
The City's 1996 IMR is less than half of the 1980 IMR (16.1). The total of 992 infant deaths in 1996 is less than half the number of infant deaths 20 years ago (2,092 in 1976). A century ago, there were more than 16,000 infant deaths per year, for an annual IMR of over 136 infant deaths per 1,000 live births -- or more than one infant death for every eight live births.
Some of the City's programs that help reduce infant mortality and improve infant health and the reproductive health of women are operated by the New York City Department of Health, which has a long history of commitment in these areas. Efforts coordinated under the DOH Bureau of Maternity Services and Family Planning include providing direct services to women and their families, as well as conducting research to assist in identifying areas where responses can further reduce infant deaths and promote good birth outcomes. Some of these programs are described below: