New study reveals that the infant mortality rate in the United States has noticeably dropped.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “infant mortality” is the number of babies that do not live past their first year of life. The term is extremely important for the nation in that it addresses a multitude of factors that affect the deaths of infants under the age of one year, according to Pioneer News.

The statistics also reveal important information that has to do with maternal health, socioeconomic conditions as well as public health practices and access to health care.

“We’re doing a better job at giving newborns in the U.S. the care that they need to get a strong, healthy start in life,” comments physician Barbara Levy, who is the vice president of health policy for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

But health experts are not sitting back content with the lower rate. They say that we, as Americans, need to stay vigilant and continue finding ways to lower the infant mortality rate even more.

National Center for Health Statistics demographer T.J. Mathews says, “Every time an infant dies, somebody out there is crying.” The lead study author continues: “Other countries are doing a lot better job.”

At the Oklahoma City-Council Health Department, supervisor of infant mortality improvement efforts, Kelli Mcneal agrees that there is a lot of work to still be done and that the only way to address the problem is to work on working together.

“We’re not looking (poverty) straight in the face and saying ‘We’re going to work on poverty.’ We’re trying to take some of the practical aspects needed in the communities and address those. … If we work on work force development, for example, more people will get educated so that improves poverty. Literally, you’re looking at the face of the next generation. That’s always going to be important. Our children are vital to who we are as a society.”