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State Senator Bill Beagle
State
Commission Aims to Lower Ohio's High Infant Mortality Rate
COLUMBUS— State Senator Bill Beagle (R-Tipp City) today announced that
state leaders have joined health advocates to begin a new phase in the
fight to reduce the state's high infant mortality rate. The Ohio
Commission on Infant Mortality met today to hear testimony and
establish a timeline for developing recommendations to improve the
state's coordinated efforts to prevent infant deaths.
“Solving Ohio’s infant mortality problem is vital to our future, and we
will continue to do all we can to allow families to celebrate more
first birthdays,” said Beagle. “As chairman of the Ohio Fatherhood
Commission, I am working alongside community organizations to reach
fathers that need help learning their roles in their children’s lives
and help to enable fathers to contribute meaningfully to the health and
well-being of their sons and daughters.”
Senator Beagle joined colleagues last year to co-sponsor Senate Bill
276, which established the Commission on Infant Mortality and directs
the Commission to prepare a written report of its findings and
recommendations for the Governor and General Assembly.
The Commission will meet regularly to take inventory of state programs
and funding streams available to address the crisis of infant deaths in
Ohio, which ranks 46th in the nation for overall infant mortality and
50th among black babies.
The Commission is made up of various representatives from state
agencies, Ohio hospitals, community-based programs. Legislative members
of the Commission include Senator Shannon Jones (R-Springboro) and
Representative Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard).
Parents and parents-to-be can find more resources and information on
preventing infant mortality on the Ohio Department of Health website at
www.odh.ohio.gov/odhprograms.
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