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What's Good

•According to data from the CDC, maternal mortality in Arizona is especially low.

•Mesa babies are 24 percent less likely than average to be born with low birth weight.

•23 percent of babies in Arizona are born via Cesarean section, among the lowest in our survey. The average is 27 percent.

•There are 52 percent more advanced fertility clinics per capita than average here, the 3rd highest ratio in our survey.

•Arizona stands out in a measure of legislation related to cord blood education, research and related issues.

•State laws require stringent background checks for day-care workers.

•Arizona devotes more money relative to population than most states to child car-seat-check stations.

•Mesa's violent crime rate is 57 percent lower than average, the 4th lowest in our survey, in fact.

Needs Improvement

•Air quality here is worse here than most cities in our survey. Air quality has been linked to childhood asthma and fertility rates, among other things.

•Mesa has 9 midwives for every 1,000 births, the 10th lowest in our survey. The national average is 37 midwives for every 1,000 births.

•According to our survey of park departments, for every 10,000 residents, Mesa has 3 miles of public trails and pathways for hiking and stroller use, the lowest in our survey. The average city in our survey has 79 trail miles for every 10,000 residents.

•With one acre of parkland for every 202 residents, there's 70 percent less public park space than average here, relative to population.

•Expecting and new moms have few parks: Mesa's ratio of parks to residents is 1 : 6,993. The average in our survey is 1 : 3,790.

•State laws do not require health insurance companies to provide or offer any fertility-related services.

•Mesa has 0.6 NICU facilities per 10,000 births, 2nd lowest in our survey. The average city in our survey has 3.4 NICU facilities per 10,000 live births.

•Mesa has a limited number of high-risk pediatricians, 100 percent less than average per capita and the lowest in our survey.

•Mesa has fewer OB-GYNs than average, the lowest in our survey.

•There are just 4.4 licensed day care centers for every 1,000 children under 4 years. The average city in our survey has 5.9.

•Pedestrians have a 283 percent higher than average risk of being killed by a motor vehicle here-among the most dangerous in our survey.

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