How one US city cut its infant mortality rate by half
Vox · Ananya Rupanagunta ·
A study in Michigan suggests that giving money directly to pregnant mothers could save lives.
A decade ago, a water lead crisis launched Flint, Michigan, into national headlines. But for years, the city of roughly 80,000 has also quietly carried the weight of a tragically high newborn mortality rate.
In 2024, there were 9.4 infant deaths for every 1,000 births in Flint — nearly twice the mortality rate of 5.54 in the US, which itself outpaces all other high-income nations.
But a new study shows that there might be a way to reverse that grim trend — a method that seems to have already made an enormous difference in Flint.