‘Too many funerals’: Wisconsin’s Black infant mortality crisis is harming generations

# Overview

Wisconsin's gap in infant survival between Black and white babies has persisted for decades. State data for 2024 show an infant mortality rate of 12.5 deaths per 1,000 live births among Black infants compared with 4.8 per 1,000 for white infants. Between 2015 and 2024 nearly 850 Black babies died before age one in Wisconsin.

Preterm birth and low birth weight are the leading causes of death among Black infants in the state. Researchers and public-health officials who study these outcomes say the differences cannot be explained by income, education or access to health care alone.

# A personal story that illustrates the problem

Dr. Jasmine Zapata, Wisconsin's state epidemiologist for maternal and child health and chronic diseases, experienced a dramatic preterm delivery at 25 weeks while she was a medical student. Her symptoms were initially dismissed, and when she arrived at the hospital she was already fully dilated. Her daughter's lungs were too fragile to cry at birth. Zapata frames that experience as an example of how premature birth can strike even pregnancies that are not classified as high risk.

# What's driving the disparity

Researchers point to the cumulative effects of systemic racism, chronic stress and generational trauma as major drivers. Chronic exposure to stress can alter physiology across time, increasing risk for preterm labor and low birth weight. Those processes affect people before pregnancy begins and can influence outcomes across generations.

The persistence of elevated infant mortality among Black families regardless of socioeconomic status — higher rates even when parents have good incomes or education — is evidence that root causes extend beyond conventional measures like poverty or lack of insurance.

# What state health leaders recommend

State leaders say improving outcomes requires supports that start well before pregnancy and continue after birth. Concrete priorities they identify include:

• More time and trust in clinical encounters so providers can address concerns and build relationships.
• Culturally informed care that aligns with patient experiences and reduces dismissive treatment.
• Investments in social needs that create chronic stress: housing stability, reliable child care and other supports.

These strategies aim to reduce the stressors and structural factors that contribute to premature birth and low birth weight.

# Data and trends to watch

• 2015–2024: nearly 850 Black infant deaths in Wisconsin.
• About one-quarter of Black infant deaths in the early half of that decade were attributed to being born too early and too small to survive.

Those figures underline a stable, long-term disparity rather than a recent spike.

# Short-term and long-term implications

Short term, families and communities continue to lose infants at disproportionately high rates. Long term, repeated premature births and the health burdens linked to chronic stress can affect maternal health across lifetimes and generations.

Efforts that focus only on prenatal care will miss causes that accumulate earlier in life. The state's response emphasizes both medical care changes and social-policy measures to address the upstream contributors to risk.