Leading causes of infant mortality and two community strategies to reduce them.

• A. Leading causes: car accidents and drowning; Strategies: swimming lessons.
• B. Leading causes: malaria; Strategies: bed nets.
• C. Leading causes: preterm birth complications; congenital anomalies. Strategies: prenatal care access and smoking cessation.
• D. Leading causes: Alzheimer's disease; Strategies: dementia screenings.

Answer: (C)

Infant mortality is most influenced by conditions at birth and fetal development. The leading contributors are complications from preterm birth and congenital anomalies, and these are the areas where community health efforts can have the biggest impact. Strengthening access to comprehensive prenatal care lets healthcare providers monitor pregnancy, manage maternal health issues, ensure good nutrition, screen for infections, and plan for safe delivery. This helps prevent preterm births and detects problems early, improving outcomes for newborns. Pairing prenatal care with smoking-cessation support tackles a major modifiable risk factor: tobacco exposure during pregnancy raises the chances of preterm birth and congenital problems. By reducing these risks at the population level, infant mortality decreases. The other options describe issues that aren’t the main drivers of infant deaths in most settings (such as injuries or diseases affecting other age groups or region-specific concerns), so they’re less aligned with the question’s focus.