| " and neighboring states with large black populations and expanses of enduring poverty made steady progress in reducing infant death. But, in what health experts call an ominous portent, progress has stalled and in recent years the death rate has risen in Mississippi and several other states. " "The setbacks have raised questions about the impact of cuts in welfare and Medicaid and of poor access to doctors, and, many doctors say, the growing epidemics of " "�I don�t think the rise is a fluke, and it�s a disturbing trend, not only in Mississippi but throughout the Southeast,� said Dr. Christina Glick, a neonatologist in Jackson, Miss., and past president of the National Perinatal Association. " "To the shock of Mississippi officials, who in 2004 had seen the infant mortality rate � defined as deaths by the age of 1 year per thousand live births � fall to 9.7, the rate jumped sharply in 2005, to 11.4. The national average in 2003, the last year for which data have been compiled, was 6.9. Smaller rises also occurred in 2005 in " "Whether the rises continue or not, federal officials say, rates have stagnated in the Deep South at levels well above the national average. " "Most striking, here and throughout the country, is the large racial disparity. In Mississippi, infant deaths among blacks rose to 17 per thousand births in 2005 from 14.2 per thousand in 2004, while those among whites rose to 6.6 per thousand from 6.1. (The national average in 2003 was 5.7 for whites and 14.0 for blacks.) " "The overall jump in Mississippi meant that 65 more babies died in 2005 than in the previous year, for a total of 481. " "The toll is visible in Hollandale, a tired town in the impoverished Delta region of northwest Mississippi. " "Jamekia Brown, 22 and two months pregnant with her third child, lives next to the black people�s cemetery in the part of town called No Name, where multiple generations crowd into cheap clapboard houses and trailers. " "So it took only a minute to walk to the graves of Ms. Brown�s first two children, marked with temporary metal signs because she cannot afford tombstones. " "Her son, who was born with deformities in 2002, died in her arms a few months later, after surgery. Her daughter was stillborn the next year. Nearby is another green marker, for a son of Ms. Brown�s cousin who died at four months, apparently of pneumonia. " "The main causes of infant death in poor Southern regions included premature and low-weight births; Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which is linked to parental " " and unsafe sleeping positions as well as unknown causes; congenital defects; and, among poor black teenage mothers in particular, deaths from accidents and disease." "Dr. LeDon Langston, an obstetrician at the Mississippi Department of Health, said in a telephone interview that officials could not yet explain the sudden increase and were investigating. Dr. Langston said the state was working to extend
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