Valuing Infant Health in the United States.

Abstract

In this issue of Pediatrics , Goldstein et al1 present new findings on state and local government expenditures and infant mortality in the United States. How much a society and/or individuals are willing to pay for something reflects its importance and monetizes its value.2 Nevertheless, investing wisely (eg, assessing the “return on investment” and domains of investing in medicine versus health) has been and continues to be challenging. Infant mortality statistics, like all vital statistics, are concerned with real people. They describe events and provide information about characteristics related to individuals entering or leaving life or changing their civil status.3 It is important to go behind those numbers and remember that each one represents a significant moment in life. The first recorded “vital statistics concerned with people” indicated that, in 1915, for every 1000 live births, ∼100 infants died before their first birthday.3–7 In 2018, the US infant mortality rate declined to 5.67 deaths per 1000 live births, making that year’s infant mortality rate the lowest reported in … Address correspondence to Michele Kiely, DrPH, Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, The City University of New York, 55 W 125th St, Room 714, New York, NY 10027. E-mail: michele.kiely{at}sph.cuny.edu