The Cobb County Board of Commissioners last week recognized October as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.
In doing so, they encouraged all residents to help support families affected by pregnancy and infant loss honor and remember the babies that were lost too soon.
“It serves to promote greater awareness, remembrance and support of the estimated one in four individuals and families whose lives are irrevocably altered by the death of their child during pregnancy, birth or infancy,” according to Commissioner Bob Ott’s newsletter.
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan declared October as “Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month” to honor the unique grief of bereaved parents who suffer such a loss. Oct. 15 is observed as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.
Georgia ranked No. 7 nationally with 888 infant deaths, and a rate of 7 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to a 2018 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).