For the second year in a row, South Dakota has seen a decline in the number of babies that die before their first birthday.  The infant death rate fell to 5.9 in 2014; down from 6.5 deaths per 1,000 births in 2013.  Colleen (cole-een) Winter is the Division Director for Health and Medical Services, and says the Governor’s Task Force on Infant Mortality has been increasing prenatal education since 2011…

 

Winter says the task force concentrated on teaching safe sleep techniques and better prenatal care.  About 72 percent of pregnant women in the state received prenatal care in their first trimester last year, but almost 15 percent still continued smoking during their pregnancy…

 

South Dakota is 35^th in the country in terms of the lowest infant death rate, while the state’s neighbors are doing much better.  Iowa leads the country in the lowest infant mortality rate of 4.14.  Minnesota is 12^th, and Nebraska is 16^th in the nation.