Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 2, 1995                   TAG: 9504030088
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Medium

STATE'S INFANT MORTALITY DOWN

The figure for 1993 - the latest year for which data is available - compares with 9.3 deaths per 1,000 in 1992.

The rate is slightly higher than the 1993 national infant mortality rate of 8.3 deaths per 1,000 births, but according to a Health Department analysis, Virginia's rate of decrease is faster than the nation's.

At current rates, the analysis said, Virginia will meet the national objective of no more than 7 infant deaths per 1,000 births by 2000.

A breakdown of the 1993 figures continues to show a disparity in the rates for blacks compared with whites. Blacks had 14.7 deaths per 1,000 births, down from 17.2 the year before. The rate for whites was 6.6, down from 6.9 in 1992.

The Health Department also said Virginia's teen-age pregnancy rate dropped from 42 pregnancies per 1,000 females 10 to 19 years old in 1992 to 39 per 1,000 in 1993. The actual numbers were 16,641 teen-age pregnancies in 1993, down from 17,245 the year before.

But department officials see a dark spot in the figures: the lack of the fathers' involvement in helping support or raise the children.

The declines, said Dr. Donald R. Stern, acting state health commissioner, are largely attributable to improved access to medical care and ``to a significant increase in the number of teen-agers who choose to be abstinent.''

The Health Department also said more than 27,000 children were born out of wedlock in Virginia during 1993. Stern said the ``increasing lack of male responsibility'' is a ``worrisome ... demographic trend.''