The 2025 Civic Leaders Summit and Inweekly may have jump-started a community conversation on how to reduce Escambia County’s infant mortality rate. Two state lawmakers are taking two different approaches to solving the problem that has haunted our county for decades.
- Rep. Michelle Salzman has formed 16-member Maternal Health Task Force, which includes Summit Keynote Jill Miller, Quint Studer and representatives from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, Florida Department of Health, Florida Department of Children and Families, Northwest Florida Health Network, Ascension Sacred Heart, Baptist Hospital, HCA West Florida, Santa Rosa Medical Center, Community Health Northwest Florida, Health Start and Florida Blue. They met on Friday, Oct. 24 and plan to reconvene in December, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
Rep. Alex Andrade is using his position as House Health Care Budget Chair to find money in the 2026-27 budget to help. His committee meets next week. I will have more on this later.
2025 Civic Leader Summit
Though Inweekly sponsored the event, I chose to attend only one talk—Jill Miller, President and CEO of Bethesda Inc. and the bi3 Fund, who talked about how Hamilton County, Ohio, had one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country in 2011. By 2023, it recorded the lowest rate in its history. The infant mortality rate went from 10.8 to 5.5 per 1,000 births, while eliminating racial disparities for the first time on record. Read How Cincinnati Transformed Its Greatest Challenge Into Its Greatest Success
- I followed up with an Outtakes column that pointed out that over the past 10 years, we have lost, on average, 30 infants during their first year of life —approximately two kindergarten classes. Read Solving a Wicked Problem.
Two weeks ago, I dug even further into how much money was needed to turn around infant mortality in Cincinnati, about $5 million over three to five years. Read Looking for $5 million to End Infant Mortality.
Where are we?
The latest data from the Florida Department of Health shows we had a slight decrease in infant deaths in 2024. Twenty-seven infants died, lowering our rate to 7.3 per 1,000 births, still 1.6 deaths higher than the state average.
Here is the spreadsheet that shows our infant deaths by year since 2005:
| Infant Mortality (Aged 0-364 Days), Rate Per 1,000 Live Births, Single Year | ||||||||
| Escambia | Florida | |||||||
| Data Year | Count | Denom | Rate | MOV | Count | Denom | Rate | MOV |
| 2024 | 27 | 3,704 | 7.3 | 2.7 | 1,276 | 224,423 | 5.7 | 0.3 |
| 2023 | 30 | 3,638 | 8.2 | 2.9 | 1,339 | 221,413 | 6.0 | 0.3 |
| 2022 | 30 | 3,627 | 8.3 | 2.9 | 1,346 | 224,403 | 6.0 | 0.3 |
| 2021 | 30 | 3,799 | 7.9 | 2.8 | 1,267 | 216,189 | 5.9 | 0.3 |
| 2020 | 30 | 3,731 | 8.0 | 2.9 | 1,213 | 209,645 | 5.8 | 0.3 |
| 2019 | 31 | 3,871 | 8.0 | 2.8 | 1,328 | 220,010 | 6.0 | 0.3 |
| 2018 | 30 | 3,733 | 8.0 | 2.9 | 1,334 | 221,508 | 6.0 | 0.3 |
| 2017 | 30 | 3,952 | 7.6 | 2.7 | 1,355 | 223,579 | 6.1 | 0.3 |
| 2016 | 33 | 3,967 | 8.3 | 2.8 | 1,380 | 225,018 | 6.1 | 0.3 |
| 2015 | 30 | 3,902 | 7.7 | 2.7 | 1,400 | 224,273 | 6.2 | 0.3 |
| 2014 | 30 | 3,880 | 7.7 | 2.8 | 1,327 | 219,905 | 6.0 | 0.3 |
| 2013 | 28 | 3,804 | 7.4 | 2.7 | 1,318 | 215,194 | 6.1 | 0.3 |
| 2012 | 31 | 3,929 | 7.9 | 2.8 | 1,285 | 212,954 | 6.0 | 0.3 |
| 2011 | 29 | 3,836 | 7.6 | 2.7 | 1,372 | 213,237 | 6.4 | 0.3 |
| 2010 | 40 | 3,922 | 10.2 | 3.1 | 1,400 | 214,519 | 6.5 | 0.3 |
| 2009 | 41 | 4,166 | 9.8 | 3.0 | 1,525 | 221,391 | 6.9 | 0.3 |
| 2008 | 44 | 4,195 | 10.5 | 3.1 | 1,667 | 231,417 | 7.2 | 0.3 |
| 2007 | 31 | 4,261 | 7.3 | 2.6 | 1,689 | 239,120 | 7.1 | 0.3 |
| 2006 | 36 | 4,478 | 8.0 | 2.6 | 1,713 | 237,166 | 7.2 | 0.3 |
| 2005 | 30 | 4,237 | 7.1 | 2.5 | 1,626 | 226,219 | 7.2 | 0.3 |
Racial Gap
The race disparity is significant. Escambia lost nine White infants and 13 Black infants. The infant mortality rate for the Black community is three times higher than in the White community—3.8 per 1,000 births compared to 13.6 per 1,000.
The rate for White infants is actually lower than the state average of 4.2. However, the Black rate is higher than the state average of 10.9.
| Infant Mortality (Aged 0-364 Days), Rate Per 1,000 Live Births, Single Year | ||||||||
| Escambia | ||||||||
| White | Black | |||||||
| Data Year | Count | Denom | Rate | MOV | Count | Denom | Rate | MOV |
| 2024 | 9 | 2,347 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 13 | 954 | 13.6 | 7.4 |
| 2023 | 14 | 2,333 | 6.0 | 3.1 | 11 | 973 | 11.3 | 6.6 |
| 2022 | 13 | 2,299 | 5.7 | 3.1 | 12 | 1,034 | 11.6 | 6.5 |
| 2021 | 10 | 2,357 | 4.2 | 2.6 | 17 | 1,154 | 14.7 | 7.0 |
| 2020 | 11 | 2,237 | 4.9 | 2.9 | 15 | 1,201 | 12.5 | 6.3 |
| 2019 | 18 | 2,371 | 7.6 | 3.5 | 10 | 1,184 | 8.4 | 5.2 |
| 2018 | 9 | 2,353 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 16 | 1,098 | 14.6 | 7.1 |
| 2017 | 13 | 2,427 | 5.4 | 2.9 | 14 | 1,217 | 11.5 | 6.0 |
| 2016 | 15 | 2,497 | 6.0 | 3.0 | 15 | 1,200 | 12.5 | 6.3 |
| 2015 | 8 | 2,430 | 3.3 | 2.3 | 18 | 1,198 | 15.0 | 6.9 |
| 2014 | 9 | 2,461 | 3.7 | 2.4 | 18 | 1,183 | 15.2 | 7.0 |
| 2013 | 11 | 2,418 | 4.5 | 2.7 | 13 | 1,162 | 11.2 | 6.0 |
| 2012 | 14 | 2,529 | 5.5 | 2.9 | 15 | 1,176 | 12.8 | 6.4 |
| 2011 | 14 | 2,432 | 5.8 | 3.0 | 13 | 1,153 | 11.3 | 6.1 |
| 2010 | 17 | 2,488 | 6.8 | 3.2 | 22 | 1,221 | 18.0 | 7.5 |
| 2009 | 16 | 2,625 | 6.1 | 3.0 | 21 | 1,323 | 15.9 | 6.7 |
| 2008 | 20 | 2,704 | 7.4 | 3.2 | 20 | 1,283 | 15.6 | 6.8 |
| 2007 | 13 | 2,718 | 4.8 | 2.6 | 15 | 1,324 | 11.3 | 5.7 |
| 2006 | 19 | 2,860 | 6.6 | 3.0 | 16 | 1,389 | 11.5 | 5.6 |
| 2005 | 12 | 2,745 | 4.4 | 2.5 | 17 | 1,241 | 13.7 | 6.5 |
| Infant Mortality (Aged 0-364 Days), Rate Per 1,000 Live Births, Single Year | ||||||||
| Florida | ||||||||
| White | Black | |||||||
| Data Year | Count | Denom | Rate | MOV | Count | Denom | Rate | MOV |
| 2024 | 679 | 161,402 | 4.2 | 0.3 | 473 | 43,430 | 10.9 | 1.0 |
| 2023 | 722 | 158,760 | 4.5 | 0.3 | 486 | 45,332 | 10.7 | 0.9 |
| 2022 | 690 | 159,638 | 4.3 | 0.3 | 538 | 48,169 | 11.2 | 0.9 |
| 2021 | 638 | 153,569 | 4.2 | 0.3 | 530 | 46,006 | 11.5 | 1.0 |
| 2020 | 627 | 147,715 | 4.2 | 0.3 | 491 | 45,917 | 10.7 | 0.9 |
| 2019 | 682 | 155,825 | 4.4 | 0.3 | 524 | 48,155 | 10.9 | 0.9 |
| 2018 | 677 | 157,793 | 4.3 | 0.3 | 547 | 48,567 | 11.3 | 0.9 |
| 2017 | 696 | 158,088 | 4.4 | 0.3 | 536 | 49,801 | 10.8 | 0.9 |
| 2016 | 694 | 160,365 | 4.3 | 0.3 | 575 | 49,405 | 11.6 | 0.9 |
| 2015 | 711 | 160,830 | 4.4 | 0.3 | 558 | 49,109 | 11.4 | 0.9 |
| 2014 | 688 | 156,999 | 4.4 | 0.3 | 538 | 49,059 | 11.0 | 0.9 |
| 2013 | 707 | 153,278 | 4.6 | 0.3 | 517 | 48,737 | 10.6 | 0.9 |
| 2012 | 687 | 150,866 | 4.6 | 0.3 | 523 | 48,992 | 10.7 | 0.9 |
| 2011 | 698 | 152,007 | 4.6 | 0.3 | 584 | 48,838 | 12.0 | 1.0 |
| 2010 | 750 | 153,480 | 4.9 | 0.3 | 580 | 49,189 | 11.8 | 1.0 |
| 2009 | 780 | 159,186 | 4.9 | 0.3 | 667 | 50,559 | 13.2 | 1.0 |
| 2008 | 914 | 167,487 | 5.5 | 0.4 | 661 | 51,362 | 12.9 | 1.0 |
| 2007 | 906 | 174,597 | 5.2 | 0.3 | 689 | 51,587 | 13.4 | 1.0 |
| 2006 | 974 | 174,147 | 5.6 | 0.4 | 653 | 50,808 | 12.9 | 1.0 |
| 2005 | 882 | 166,181 | 5.3 | 0.3 | 652 | 47,957 | 13.6 | 1.0 |