ENROLLED
2017 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 58
BY REPRESENTATIVES HILFERTY AND HUNTER
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To urge and request the bureau of family health of the Louisiana Department of Health to
evaluate the feasibility and desirability of implementing a "baby box" program as a
means of reducing infant mortality, and to report findings of the evaluation to the
legislative committees on health and welfare.
WHEREAS, in March of 2017, Alabama became the third U.S. state, after New
Jersey and Ohio, to make free "baby boxes" available to the families of all newborns on a
statewide basis; and
WHEREAS, the "baby box" distributed in these states is a sturdy cardboard box
which doubles as a bassinet and comes with a firm foam mattress, a tight-fitting sheet, and
breastfeeding accessories; and
WHEREAS, these baby box distribution initiatives are a variation of a program
providing maternity packages in Finland which began approximately eighty years ago when
that country suffered a postneonatal death rate of nearly ten percent; and
WHEREAS, Finland's infant mortality rate has dropped by over ninety-five percent
in the past eight decades and is now one of the world's lowest; and
WHEREAS, by contrast, among the thirty-five nations that comprise the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United States ranks sixth-
from-last (twenty-ninth) in infant mortality; and
WHEREAS, within the U.S., Louisiana has a particularly high rate of infant
mortality; according to the 2016 America's Health Rankings report, at over eight infant
deaths per one thousand live births, Louisiana's infant mortality rate ranks forty-eighth
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among U.S. states and is nearly twice that of the state with the nation's lowest infant
mortality rate (Massachusetts); and
WHEREAS, promoting safe sleep and reducing other risk factors for infant mortality
have been longstanding priorities of the bureau of family health of the Louisiana Department
of Health, the child welfare division of the Department of Children and Family Services, and
the Louisiana State Child Death Review Panel.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the bureau of family health of the Louisiana Department of Health to
evaluate the feasibility and desirability of implementing a "baby box" program of the type
described in this Resolution as a means to promote safe sleep among families with newborns
and thereby reduce infant mortality.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in conducting the evaluation requested in this
Resolution, the bureau of family health shall engage, collaborate with, and obtain
information and perspective from the child welfare division of the Department of Children
and Family Services, the Louisiana State Child Death Review Panel, and any other
stakeholder groups as deemed appropriate by the director of the bureau of family health.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the bureau of family health shall submit a
written report of its findings resulting from the evaluation requested in this Resolution to the
House Committee on Health and Welfare and the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare
no later than sixty days prior to the convening of the 2018 Regular Session of the Legislature
of Louisiana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, the secretary of the Department of Children
and Family Services, and the chairperson of the Louisiana State Child Death Review Panel.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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