Today and tomorrow, researchers and doctors are meeting to come up with ways to improve the health of women, children and infants – the first summit of its kind in more than 20 years in Illinois. One of the most vexing problems they’ll tackle is the persistently high rate of infant mortality among African-Americans. In 2005, that rate was more than two-and-a-half times the rate for white infants.

Arden Handler is a professor of community health sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health. She says to get at the reasons for the racial gap, people need to look at how society treats women and children in general.

Music Button: ZeroOne, “Future”  from the CD Ozone  (Waveform records)