Infant Mortality Drops; Injuries Cause Most Child Deaths

Infant Mortality Drops;

Injuries Cause Most Child Deaths: Great improvements have been made in reducing the number of children who die each year, but there are some exceptions, notes a new report from the Child Welfare League of America.

The nation's infant-mortality rate has seen a steady decline: From 1950 to1997, the rate dropped from 29.2 deaths per 1,000 live births to 7.1, the Washington-based CWLA says. And, the report notes, accidental injuries--motor-vehicle crashes, fires, and drowning, among others--have replaced infectious disease as the leading overall cause of death among children 14 and under.

About 8,000 U.S. children in that age group die each year because of injuries; that figure includes suicides and homicides, both of which have increased significantly since the 1950s. The report says more children under age 4 die from abuse and neglect than from falls, choking on food, suffocation, drowning, house fires,...