Thirkill and Johnson: Every baby deserves a chance

Infant mortality is a critical problem in our community. In fact, Hamilton County has a higher infant mortality rate than many underdeveloped countries. The Infant Mortality Public Awareness Campaign for Tennessee (IMPACT), a group of Girls Inc. teenagers whose main focus is to reduce Tennessee's infant mortality rate, is working to create awareness about the problem and advocate for healthy prenatal behaviors in our peers.

We know it's critical for us to make sure that we educate our peers. We will be parents of the next generation and we must all be educated about how the choices we make will affect the lives we create. Infant mortality is a heartbreaking but preventable problem.

During the eight years of the IMPACT program, members have traveled to Madison and Milwaukee, Wis., and Washington, D.C,. to research the causes of infant mortality. This summer, we traveled to Atlanta to meet with Sandra Alexander, expert consultant in child maltreatment and others at the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention, to ensure that we had the most up-to-date information.

We use our research to educate the public by participating in health fairs, presenting in schools and creating public service announcements such as the "They Are What You Eat" billboard campaign.

We also recognize the racial disparity in infant mortality revealed in state statistics. Figures show black babies die two times more often than white babies in Tennessee. We find this rate unacceptable as we believe that every baby deserves a fair chance at life. This disparity has led us to a focus on Wisconsin's Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families. The nucleus of this idea is that even before women are pregnant, the circumstances of their lives can affect their future children. How does this correlate with race? We discovered the mental and social conditions of a mother's life can affect the health and life of the child; a lifetime of stress can be felt by the fetus.

Despite the distressing facts we learned through IMPACT, we've also discovered that infant mortality can be significantly reduced by changes in behavior.

First, exercise and eating right provide what a woman needs to have a healthy body and a safe place for her baby to grow.

Second, in recognition that exposure to smoking (including first-, second- and third-hand smoking) is the leading cause of infant mortality in Tennessee, future mothers should avoid any exposure to smoke and should not drink alcohol.

Third, and most importantly, a woman's access to health care services has a significant impact on her health as well as the well-being on their baby. During pregnancy, women should visit her doctor every trimester to monitor their baby's health. However, we recognize that lack of access to appropriate health care services is a chronic obstacle, and it is an issue that we continue to work on.

We are grateful to our funder, BlueCross BlueShield Health Foundation of Tennessee, and the support of Girls Inc., which allows us to continue to embark on our educational, lifesaving journey. Visit girlsincofchatt.org to learn more. Every baby deserves a chance.

If the efforts of the teen-led IMPACT program save even one life, we have served our purpose.

Maya Thirkill is a student at Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts and Maya Johnson is a student at Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences.

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