MADISON - A $500,000 grant will fund a study of how Dane County has cut the mortality rate for African-American babies and how the success could be repeated elsewhere.

The Dane County rate was around 19 deaths per 1,000 births until 2001 before dropping to 6 deaths per 1,000 from 2002 to 2006. Plans also call for studying Racine, where the rate is four times higher, and other areas.

Wisconsin's rate of 17 deaths per 1,000 births is among the nation's highest.

University of Wisconsin-Madison medical researchers and the Madison-Dane County Health Department will do the analysis. The grant is from the Wisconsin Partnership Program created with money paid to the state when Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Wisconsin became for-profit.