A new "Kids Count" report for 2007 offers a sobering assessment of the health and economic wellbeing of children living in the state of Michigan. The report, which was compiled by the Michigan League for Human Services and Michigan's Children, concludes that Michigan has made "limited progress" and "will fail to meet many national standards for healthy children, families and neighborhoods" if more aggressive action is not taken. Michigan has met only three of eighteen goals identified by the Healthy People (HP) 2010 initiative aimed at improving the health of children across the nation and setting policy goals and has made only minimal progress on fourteen of eighteen indicators.
In meeting those three goals, Michigan immunized 80% of its toddlers, has a teen pregnancy rate of 23 per 1,000 teenagers compared to the goal of 43 per 1,000, and reported only 30% of its high school students being involved in a physical fight over the past year compared to a goal of 32%. However, the progress is overshadowed by many problems, particularly when it comes to race. Significant racial disparities remain, with African-American children being three times as likely as white children to live in poverty. Additionally, they have triple the rate of infant mortality and double the death rates for young and elementary age children, hospitalization for asthma, and low-birth weight.
Overall, Michigan made limited progress on most (14 out of 18) indicators. In the "Maternal/Infant" care area, Michigan met none of the goals and continues to be below the national goal in having prenatal care in the first trimester while exceeding the goals by having more preterm and low-birth weight babies along with a higher infant mortality rate. In the "Young Children" area, Michigan failed to meet the goals by substantial margins most areas--percentage of children with lead poisoning, child deaths ages 1-4, and hospitalization for asthma 0-4--while meeting the goal for fully immunized toddlers. With the exception of goals for teen pregnancies and physical fights, Michigan failed to meet goals in the "Adolescent" category including "vigorous exercise" and being "overweight."
Numbers specific to Kent County show that 15.1% of children in Kent County live in poverty, which is less than the Michigan-wide number of 17%. This number has increased since 2000, an increase that was attributed to a shift from well-paying manufacturing to service industry jobs in the Grand Rapids Press. Infant mortality also increased in Kent County, reaching 8.2%. Almost a fourth of children in Kent County receive adequate pre-natal care. In addition to health indicators, the report places the average cost of childcare at $513 per month, or 16.4% of the average wage.
Profiles for other counties in West Michigan are also available online: Allegan, Barry, and Ottawa.
