Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families

Learn more about the Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families from UW-Madison: Ensuring Innovation (2:30)

Infant mortality - specifically, the disparity of outcomes between white and nonwhite births - is one of the most critical health problems facing Wisconsin.

In response, the Wisconsin Partnership Program and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health have launched a $10 million initiative to investigate and address the high incidence of African-American infant mortality in the state.

This multiyear evidence-based program will incorporate best practice public health and self-sustaining community-based interventions to produce better African-American birth outcomes.

At the center of this effort is the Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families (LIHF), which will work to identify the needs of African-American women and their families, and pursue opportunities to address those needs.

Recognizing a Disturbing Trend

Wisconsin is a leader among states for its low white infant mortality rate (number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births), but the infant mortality rate for African-Americans in Wisconsin is the worst in the nation.

In 2004, infants born to African-American mothers in Wisconsin were more than four times likely to die before their first birthday than infants born to white mothers (19.3 deaths per 1,000 live births for blacks compared to 4.5 deaths per 1,000 live births for whites).

It wasn't always this way. In 1979-81, Wisconsin was ranked third best of the 34 states reporting nationwide.

Collecting the Evidence

To understand the reasons for this growing disparity, the Wisconsin Partnership Program hired Richard Aronson, MD, MPH, to assess the current state, national and global strategies, and provide recommendations for comprehensive community strategies that can be used as a basis for future action. His white paper, "Elimination of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Birth Outcomes in Wisconsin," details his findings and recommendations.

Aronson's findings were the basis for May 2008's Wisconsin Infant Mortality Summit, hosted by the Wisconsin Partnership Program joined with the Johnson Foundation and the UW School of Medicine and Public Health in Racine. State and national experts convened at the Wingspread Conference Center to discuss infant mortality and create a coalition of partners to support an action plan for improving birth outcomes among African-American women in Wisconsin.

On October 15, 2009, agencies in four Wisconsin communities - Milwaukee, Beloit, Racine, and Kenosha - submitted notices of intent to apply for Community Action Planning Grants through the Lifecourse Initiative. Meanwhile, WPP has funded an investigation into the causes of the dramatic drop in African-American infant mortality in Dane County.