Wake County health workers say half of those deaths could have been prevented. This weekend dozens of county agencies came together for"Family Fun Day," which educates both parents and prospective parentsabout healthful approaches to pregnancy, delivery and child-raising bysharing a wealth of information.
Programs like Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies help but health careworkers say we still have a long way to go in beating infant mortality.
Breaking down the numbers, 50 percent of infant deaths in Wake Countycould have been prevented with adequate and early intervention because 8percent of pregnant women say they've used drugs during pregnancy and 15percent of Wake County infant deaths are linked to smoking.
Laura Oberkircher, with the Healthy Mothers program, said that ideallyevery pregant or parenting family should have the support and medicalservices they need so that children can grow up healthy.
This was the seventh year for the "Family Fun Day" at Pullen Park. And,also seven years ago, the state ranked 50th in the incidence of infantmortality.
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