Allegheny County long has had a high rate of sleep-related infant deaths in the African-American community, and various efforts have been ongoing for years to help reduce the number of cases.

But the numbers remain high.

From 2001 to 2006, 68 infant deaths were documented countywide, with 43 of them being African-American children. The makes the rate of cases for African-American children 17 times higher than the rest of the county population.

"Sixty-eight deaths over four years is 68 too many," said Dr. Bruce W. Dixon, county health director, during a news conference today at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

Those numbers have prompted the Allegheny County Health Department to partner with Children's to recruit churches with predominantly African-American congregations to help educate people and reduce the number of infant deaths. The Infant Safe Sleep Church Outreach Committee already has six churches participating and plans to recruit more.

The hope is that clergy and others can raise the topic during church services and sermons and convince members to follow safe practices. They include placing babies on their backs to sleep, reducing the amount of loose bedding and avoiding the practice of having the baby sleep in bed with parents.

"We want to reach as many new mothers as possible, which is why we're reaching out to clergy, health care professionals and directly to families through Children's Hospital's Family Care Connection centers, which are located in underserved areas of the county," said Bredna J. Gregg, director of Community Health at Children's. "The vast majority of these deaths are entireley preventable through better education."