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Black infant mortality is the emergency at the center of a new Milwaukee plan.
The city health department released a four year strategic plan on Tuesday, November 11.
Its stated aim is to greatly reduce racial disparities in birth outcomes by 2030.
The numbers behind the plan are stark, and Black families carry the heaviest loss.
City leaders say a proven model from Baltimore now guides the work ahead.
Major Takeaways
- An average of 78 Milwaukee babies per year died before a first birthday from 2019 to 2022.
- Black infants in Milwaukee were three times more likely to die than white infants.
- The plan borrows a Baltimore model that reduced infant deaths by 35 percent.
- Late prenatal care was a factor in almost one in three infant deaths the city reviewed.
1. Black Infant Mortality in Milwaukee by the Numbers
Milwaukee loses babies at a rate that ranks among the worst in the nation.
An average of 78 babies per year died before a first birthday in the review years.
Those years run from 2019 to 2022 in the latest city review of infant deaths.
The racial gap inside that total is the heart of the crisis.
Black infants were three times more likely to die than white infants in Milwaukee.
That means grief lands again and again in the same Black neighborhoods and families.
City review maps show two ZIP codes carry among the highest rates in Milwaukee.
The 53206 and 53210 ZIP codes continue to sit at the top of that list.
For Black mothers in those neighborhoods, this plan is not an abstract policy paper.
It is about whether a baby comes home, grows up and sees a first birthday.
Read more coverage in our News section as this story develops across the country.
2. What the Milwaukee Plan Actually Promises
Health department staff worked on the strategic plan for nine months.
A grant of 100,000 dollars helped the city put the plan together.
The money came from a federal Public Health Infrastructure Grant program.
Staff consulted more than 30 individuals, groups and organizations during the work.
Those voices all work in maternal and infant health in the Milwaukee area.
One emphasis is improving access to prenatal care for pregnant residents.
Another is making the health care system easier for those residents to navigate.
Health Commissioner Mike Totoraitis said the plan was meant to show one thing.
He said it shows how all the pieces are coming together in this moment.
He acknowledged the city has struggled for years to build momentum on this issue.
He recalled a citywide push on teen pregnancy more than a decade ago.
That push, he said, was the last time everyone spoke the same language.
We really want to be the leaders in this space, Totoraitis said.
He added that the city wants to call people to the table.
3. Why Prenatal Care Sits at the Center
The city review behind the plan points to one factor again and again.
Late prenatal care was listed as a factor in almost one in three deaths.
The review assessed the circumstances of each baby death from 2019 to 2022.
In the next year, the department and its partners will improve care coordination.
They will also improve navigation help for pregnant residents who need services.
That focus matches what Baltimore leaders told Milwaukee during an August visit.
Regular doctor visits can reduce adverse birth outcomes for mothers and babies.
Nutrition counseling and mental health support can also reduce those adverse outcomes.
For many Black mothers, the barrier is not knowledge or love for a child.
The barrier is a system that is hard to reach, hard to book and hard to trust.
A plan that fixes navigation and coordination speaks directly to that lived reality.
Our Health and Wellness coverage follows efforts like this one across the country.
4. The Baltimore Model Milwaukee Wants to Copy
Milwaukee staff modeled their approach on a successful initiative in Baltimore.
That initiative is called B’More for Healthy Babies, and it launched in 2009.
It has led to a 35 percent decrease in infant deaths in Baltimore.
It also brought more equal outcomes for Black and white infants there.
Before 2009, Baltimore programs worked with no cohesiveness, one of its leaders said.
Contracts then required partners across the city to collaborate with one another.
Today the initiative counts more than 150 partners working toward a shared goal.
Partners range from hospitals and doctors to midwives, churches and social services.
Milwaukee wants its own version of that binding teamwork on paper.
The plan calls for groups to enter agreements to work together formally.
Rosamaria Martinez said the city aims for three to five such agreements.
Martinez is the interim deputy commissioner of Family and Community Health.
Baltimore also uses its review of every infant death to push for change.
Milwaukee leaders say they are rebuilding their own review program for that reason.
5. The Missing Targets Black Families Will Watch
One gap in the Milwaukee plan stands out on the day of its release.
Unlike the first Baltimore plan, Milwaukee sets no specific targets in this document.
Baltimore set targets for preterm births, low birth weight babies and unsafe sleep deaths.
Milwaukee instead makes broad statements about improving maternal health and reducing infant deaths.
A department spokesperson said measurable targets will be established in early 2027.
The department will also release updated implementation guidance in two years.
That guidance is meant to see the plan through to its 2030 horizon.
Black families have heard broad promises on infant health before, in many cities.
What builds trust is a public number, a public deadline and a public accounting.
The early 2027 targets will be the first real test of this plan.
Until then, the work is coordination, agreements and a shared city focus.
Totoraitis said collective work is what makes an effort like this sustainable.
When folks come to the table as part of a collective solution, it lasts, he said.
Every partner has a role to play in that solution, he added.
If Milwaukee matches Baltimore, dozens of Black babies could live who might otherwise die.
That is the promise on paper in Milwaukee on November 11.
Follow continuing coverage at Urban City Podcast as the city turns promise into practice.
