Screening for Sickle-Cell Anemia to Be Expanded
California Health Director Kenneth Kizer said that next week the state will offer expanded screening of babies for sickle-cell anemia as part of an effort to lower the black infant mortality rate. Kizer announced the plan Thursday during a tour of Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Watts, one of four hospitals statewide that will share a grant of $1.3 million to expand prenatal services to black women.
The infant mortality rate statewide is 8.6 babies for every 1,000; the rate among blacks is 15.8 per 1,000.
Kizer said that, beginning Wednesday, the state will make sickle-cell anemia screening available to each of the estimated 525,000 infants born in California each year. The $365,000 set aside for King will go toward a collaborative effort with the Watts Health Foundations to expand maternal services in Compton and South Los Angeles. The state also awarded grants to the West Oakland Health Council, the East Bay Perinatal Council and San Joaquin General Hospital.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
