annotated Bibliography

Deanna Earl Seminar in Medical Humanities -MHU 4813 Professor: Abraham Graber

Bibliography

A doctor’s job involves assisting to serve families by helping pregnant mothers achieve

safe deliveries. Giving birth and settling in with newborn infants marks a significant transition in

human existence. There are many factors that motivate people to pursue medical studies. For

instance, studies on infant mortality rates may prompt an individual to go in the medical field with

the aim of assisting the African-American women who are highly affected by community mortality

rates. I hope this bibliography can function as a conversational start for those interested in starting a

family. This bibliography's primary focus is to reflect on how we can bring awareness to the high rate

of infant and mortality rate.

Infant mortality refers to the number of deaths of children who are below two years of age.

In a health and maternal journal, Mottl-Santiago et al (pp. 374-379) elaborates on infant mortalities

by providing astonishing statistic data. Gazmaranian et al (1) states that 74.4% of all preterm births

in the world account for infants born between 34-36 weeks after gestation, referred to as preterm

infants. Another study by MacDorman (811) indicates the number of infants born at late preterm

to be one third of the overall mortality rates, where in 2002, the figure meant that in every 1000

live births, about 8 infants are at greater risks of succumbing to neo natal complications when

compared to their counterparts. However, Davis (np) indicates a declining number of mortality

rates in his report, and claims the higher numbers experienced before to be results of premature

births and medical racism.

Doctors are required to perform their responsibilities and help bring the mortality rates

down thereby help in saving lives. According to McDaniels (1), the medical staff should work on

decreasing the recovery time for newly conceived mothers, where they may assist in reducing an

epidural, or involve doula care (Kozhimannil p.23), which result to less medical interventions and

better care for pregnant mothers.

Deanna Earl Seminar in Medical Humanities -MHU 4813 Professor: Abraham Graber

Work Cited

Callaghan, William. "240: Explaining the Recent Decrease in US Infant Mortality Rate, 2007-

2013." American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 214, no. 1, Elsevier Inc,

2016, pp. S141–S142, doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2015.10.278.

Davis, Dána-Ain. Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth. NYU Press,

2019.

King, Gazmararian, et al. “Disparities in Mortality Rates Among US Infants Born Late Preterm

or Early Term, 2003–2005.” Maternal and Child Health Journal, vol. 18, no. 1, Springer

Science and Business Media LLC, Jan. 2014, pp. 233–41, doi:10.1007/s10995-013-1259-

.

Kozhimannil, Hardeman. “Modeling the Cost‐Effectiveness of Doula Care Associated with

Reductions in Preterm Birth and Cesarean Delivery.” Birth, vol. 43, no. 1, WILEY, Mar.

2016, pp. 20–27, doi:10.1111/birt.12218.

Deanna Earl Seminar in Medical Humanities -MHU 4813 Professor: Abraham Graber

MacDorman, M. F., Declercq, E., & Thoma, M. E. (2017). Trends in maternal mortality by

socio-demographic characteristics and cause of death in 27 states and the District of

Columbia. Obstetrics and gynecology, 129(5), 811.

McDaniels, Andrea. “Baltimore Enlists Doulas to Help Bring down Infant Mortality Rate:

Pregnant Women Will Be Assisted before, During and after Childbirth with Nonmedical

Matters.” The Washington Post, 7 Aug. 2017, p1 Web. 1 Dec 2020.

Mottl-Santiago, Julie, et al. “A Hospital-Based Doula Program and Childbirth Outcomes in an

Urban, Multicultural Setting.” Maternal and Child Health Journal, vol. 12, no. 3,

Springer US, May 2008, pp. 372–77, doi:10.1007/s10995-007-0245- 9.

Petersen, E. E., Davis, N. L., Goodman, D., Cox, S., Mayes, N., Johnston, E., ... & Barfield, W.

(2019). Vital signs: pregnancy-related deaths, United States, 2011–2015, and strategies

for prevention, 13 states, 2013–2017. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 68(18),

423.