The Infant and Maternal Mortality Issue in St. Louis

St. Louis is one of the most segregated metropolitan areas in the country, Black families have been concentrated in once-redlined neighborhoods that continue to see disinvestment. As a result, majority-black neighborhoods have insufficient access to resources like housing and transportation, higher poverty rates, fewer public services, and greater exposure to pollution and violent crime. Our history of segregation and disinvestment has led to racial disparities in health outcomes, with Black populations experiencing more adverse health.

In St. Louis city & county, Black infants are 3 times more likely to die than white infants and Black women and birthing people are 2 times more likely to die as a complication of pregnancy than white individuals. FLOURISH St. Louis has been working to raise awareness about the challenges Black families in the region are experiencing and promote solutions that will result in Black infant and family vitality. This work is a marathon, not a sprint. We won’t achieve racial equity in infant and maternal health outcomes until we change the policies, systems, and practices in our region that adversely impact Black families. Explore the various data pages to further understand the factors that contribute to the racial disparities in infant and maternal health in the St. Louis region.

For more information about the methodology of this project, click here.