Cincinnati babies don’t get the same chance at seeing their first birthday as do infants in other states across the country, and area health professionals believe it’s time to become more proactive about it.   

The city's Health Department will administer a $760,000 grant from the state to create the Reproductive Health Improvement Collaborative, in conjunction with University Hospital’s Center for Women’s Health. The new initiative will try to lessen health disparities in 19 area zip codes — mostly low-income areas — that have high Infant Mortality Rates.  

Syphilis was once so common that some people viewed the potentially fatal disease as a natural stage of life. Nowadays, most sexually active people think syphilis is a relic of the past and worry more about contracting viruses like HIV. But syphilis is back locally, and in a big way.