Delaware Healthy Mother & Infant Consortium

In 2004, Governor Minner had a simple question: Why is it, she asked, that early entry into prenatal care for pregnant women in Delaware is at an all-time high, and yet there was no improvement in our dismal infant mortality rate? Not satisfied with the answers she was getting, the Governor signed Executive Order # 52 on June 2, 2004, to establish the Infant Mortality Task Force (IMTF). The Governor charged the Task Force to advise her of strategies to reduce infant mortality in Delaware. Additionally, she asked that the IMTF develop broad-based recommendations that are based on scientific evidence, defined partnerships, and expected contribution with timelines. Finally, she asked that the Task Force submit its report to her within nine months.

In May 2005, the IMTF presented its report, titled “Reducing Infant Mortality in Delaware — Recommendations of the Infant Mortality Task Force”, to the Governor with 20 recommendations on how to improve birth outcomes in Delaware. Recommendation #3 noted that at other times in the history of the state, the infant mortality rate (IMR) had drawn the attention of one administration or another. There had been organized efforts to bring the IMR under control. A subsequent administration saw the progress made and moved resources from that effort to address a different challenge. Over time, the IMR went back up. And the cycle would start all over again. To prevent that cycle from continuing, the Task Force called for a successor organization to oversee the implementation of the recommendations and continue to advocate for resources to sustain the effort across administrations. The Delaware Healthy Mother & Infant Contortion (DHMIC) is the successor organization called for by recommendation #3.