Cohen Hosts Congressional Lunch Briefing on Infant Mortality; Speaks at CBC Forum on Health Care

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) today held a Congressional Lunch Briefing on Infant Mortality with film producer Tonya Lewis Lee and spoke at a Congressional Black Caucus health care forum with Congressman John Conyers (D-MI-14). Congressman Cohen’s office coordinated the Capitol Hill infant mortality briefing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

“Memphis has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country,” said Congressman Cohen. “The infant mortality rate of a nation is an important indicator of that nation’s overall health. It is an issue that sweeps from urban to rural communities across our country. We must do more to make sure women have the resources they need to deliver healthy babies.”

Congressman Cohen is the author of two bills to help reduce infant mortality: the NEWBORN Act which would address the growing problem of infant mortality through a national pilot program to promote pre-natal care, community outreach and youth education, and the Birth Certificate Enhancement Act which directs the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to allocate the necessary funds for the collection of statistics from enhanced birth certificates.

Film producer Tonya Lewis Lee – wife of Spike Lee – showed her documentary focusing on the issue of Infant Mortality in the African-American community at the briefing. Much of the film – entitled “A Healthy Baby Begins with You” -- was shot during a trip to Memphis, which has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country.

Other featured speakers at the briefing included Richard Waldman, MD, FACOG; Garth Graham, Office of Minority Health, Department of Health and Human Services; representatives from the American Academy of Pediatrics; and Brent Ewig, the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs.

Congressman Cohen also spoke at Congressman Conyers’ Congressional Black Caucus Health Care Forum at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center entitled “Defending and Building on Health Care Reform: Next Steps in the Fight for Health Care for ALL.” The Memphis Congressman discussed the need for universal health care in America and how universal health care could help lower the infant mortality rate in Memphis and across the country.