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Infant mortality rates across the South are by far the worst in the U.S. A look at South Carolina — where multimillion-dollar programs aimed at improving rates over the past 10 years have failed to move the needle — drives home the challenge of finding solutions.

Despite years of efforts to reduce the use of C-sections in delivering babies, rates remain high, especially in the South. Black women, particularly, are more likely to give birth by C-section.

Mothers are breast-feeding longer, according to a new federal report. But many moms don't get help learning how to breast-feed, and hospitals sabotage their efforts by giving healthy babies formula and giving parents free formula samples.

When Biannela Susana first gave birth, she was a child herself; by the time she was 25 she had four children. Now she has none, and is in Duval County…