Legislation that would give researchers access to child mortality data is on its way to the Kansas Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed the bill in response to a strong lobbying effort by the nonprofit advocacy group Kansas Action for Children. A spokesperson for the group, Christie Appelhanz, says that allowing researchers to study data compiled by the Child Death Review Board will help determine why the state's infant mortality rate is higher than that of most other states.
The infant mortality rate in Kansas is 6.3 per every 1,000 live births -- that's above the national average of 6.14. The U.S. average is also higher than the average infant mortality rate in other developed countries.
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