America’s Children of Neglect

From the Mississippi Delta to the California coast, America’s children are failing to get a healthy start in life. Experts agree that caring for a child, even before birth, pays off--for the infant and the mother, and for society. This nation has yet to invest enough to reap these obvious rewards. That indifference must change.

Over the past few months, Times medical writer Janny Scott has pointed again and again at the chain of neglect that restrains these children of poverty. Consider:

--The United States, which once boasted one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world, has been outstripped in recent years by about 20 other countries, including Spain and Singapore.

--In Mississippi, where teen-age girls have the nation’s highest pregnancy rates, many live 50 miles from a doctor. Many physicians, faced with low Medicaid reimbursement rates and rising insurance premiums, have abandoned the region.

--In Birmingham, Ala., an epidemiologist makes the disturbing argument that poor health induced by poverty can be passed on generationally. While it’s still an unproven theory, it may further demonstrate the damaging legacy of childhood poverty.

Doctors have known for years that if a pregnant woman eats well, doesn’t take unauthorized drugs and is regularly monitored for medical problems, she is more likely to deliver a strong baby. By investing $1,500 to ensure that every pregnant woman in California receives prenatal care, the Children Now advocacy group estimates that the state could typically save $100,000 in emergency medical expenses--expensive incubators and special nursing, for example--for every baby born without such care.

Yet the last state budget cut $1 million from Medi-Cal for improved access to prenatal and infant care. Other deep cuts in money for county health services eliminated more than one-third of the state funds that keep county hospitals and clinics open. They are the primary sources of prenatal care for low-income women least likely to obtain it elsewhere.

In his campaign for governor, Pete Wilson pledged to help children. Their lives depend on whether he can do it.