By Mary Katherine Murphy
Laurinburg Exchange
LAURINBURG — A compilation of child health statistics from all 100 North Carolina counties released on Tuesday by advocacy group NC Child placed life expectancies for children born in Scotland County in the bottom tenth in the state.
Among North Carolina counties, life expectancies range from 73.1 years in Swain County to 81.7 in Orange County. Scotland County’s life expectancy of 74.7 years was the sixth-lowest in the state.
The average statewide life expectancy is 78.3 years.
County-level figures were generated using social, economic, and health statistics from 2013 data. According to Wayne Raynor, interim director of the Scotland County Health Department, the county’s high rate of poverty has had a significant impact on its children, as reflected in the ratings.
“Socioeconomic issues are clearly a factor in Scotland County as in other poor counties,” Raynor said. “We would love to see that change and get that turned around because living in poverty is clearly an indicator: they’re at risk for not completing an education, not thriving, having poor health, and it’s serious.”
Nearly half of Scotland County’s children — 48.6 percent — are living in poverty, a rising trend over the last decade. In 2007, that figure was 36.4 percent.
Of the 201 African-American children born in Scotland County in 2013, 62.5 were born into families in poverty, along with 19.1 percent of the 147 white children born that year. Sixty percent of the 86 American Indian children born that year were also born into poverty.
Countywide, an estimated 35 percent of children live in food insecure households.
In some areas, such as health insurance, Scotland County’s children fare better than those in counties with higher life expectancies. At 5.6 percent, a smaller proportion of Scotland County children are uninsured than in North Carolina at large — 7.4 percent.
The health department reintroduced its maternity clinic in February after discontinuing that program in 2011, and currently has 20 women enrolled. It is also working to restart a child health program, which the health department has not had in more than 15 years and which will involve meticulous monitoring of children’s health in their early years.
“We will be looking at high-risk children, children who are developmentally delayed and who are behind on immunizations and their physicals,” Raynor said. “Looking at children’s needs, especially following children through the first five years of life, we’ll be able to do some assessments there and hopefully make a difference.”
In Scotland County, 14.5 percent of children are born before 37 weeks of pregnancy, compared to 11.4 percent statewide. One in nine Scotland County infants are considered to be at a low birth weight, and one in 30 mothers have had either very late or no prenatal care during their pregnancies.
Just over 24 percent of the county’s live births were to mothers who have not completed a high school education, versus 16.6 percent statewide.
NC Child was created on Jan. 1, 2014 through a merger of Action for Children North Carolina and the Covenant with North Carolina’s Children.