By Kerry Klein, Valley Public Radio, November 5, 2019
The non-profit health advocacy group March of Dimes has released its annual preterm birth report card, and once again, San Joaquin Valley counties ranked among the worst in the state.
Throughout California, just shy of 9 percent of babies are preterm. That means they’re born before 37 weeks of gestation, which can put them at higher risk of long-term health complications and even death. Although Fresno County’s preterm birth rate improved in the last year, it still fares worse than the state as a whole with 9.1 percent of babies born preterm. Meanwhile, Kern County’s preterm birth rate worsened to nearly 10 percent.
All of these rates are actually better than the national average, but regional director Shantay Davies-Balch says the rates themselves are not the full story. “Overall, California is not doing bad,” she says, but “the crisis is in the racial and ethnic disparities.”
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