r a county with the resources we have" (Painton, 1991, p. 30).
Demographic studies on infant mortality in the United States have shown that there is a distinct racial breakdown in the frequency of its occurrence. For example, such studies have shown that approximately twice as many African-American infants as white infants die before the age of one. In this regard, statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services indicate that the death rate for African-American infants is 17.6 per 1,000 births, whereas the rate for white American infants is only 8.5 per 1,000 (A few more first birthdays, 1991, p. 33). It may be noted that the primary cause for death in infancy is a low birth weight. Cowley (1991) has stated: "Babies with low birth weights (under 5.5 pounds) are 40 times more likely than others to die during their first month, and 20 times more likely to die within a year" (p. 20). Low birth weight has also been found to be related to a racial division within America. Thus, whereas 7 percent of all American infants are underweight at birth, "fully 13 percent of all black children came into the world dangerously underweight" (Cowley, 1991, p. 20). African-Americans are not the only racial group in the United States to experience a high infant mortality rate. For example, Hispanic infants are also more prone to an early death than white infants. In fact, according to a 1986 study conducted by Miller, Fine, Adams-Taylor and Schorr: "Hispanic women in the United States are at even greater risk than African-Americans of receiving inadequate care and delivering low-birth-weight babies" (Stanton, 1990, p. 31).
The reasons for infant mortality being so high among minorities can be found in the fact that minority women are often extremely poor. In this regard, it has been noted that "poor children are more likely to suffer from low birth weight, [and are] more likely to die during the first year of life" (Cowley, 199...