March 02, 2022 | by: Sharon Muza
The 2020 maternal mortality rates were just released by the Centers for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics. The new information indicates that the United States continues to move in the wrong direction, and has had an increase in both the number and rate of people dying in the childbearing year. Black and brown families have rates that are significantly higher than their white peers.
Read More
June 15, 2021 | by: Molly Giammarco, MPP
Lamaze International’s call for increased advocacy joins a chorus of stakeholders, maternity care providers, and policymakers seeking to improve maternal health outcomes. This is taking place on many different fronts, through increased awareness, dialogue, partnerships—and legislative action. Since the inaugural Lamaze Advocacy Summit in 2017, the number of maternal health-related bills introduced in the U.S. Congress have tripled.
Initiatives to identify and address causes and contributors to maternal mortality and morbidity have prompted a deeper dive into maternal healthcare in United States—and growing number of different bills introduced each year reflects the progression from discussion to action. The uptick of maternal health bills in just a few short years is a positive step toward improving maternal health outcomes
Read More
April 06, 2021 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
In 2019, 754 people lost their life from maternal causes in the United States. The maternal mortality rate for 2019 was 20.1 deaths per 100,000 live births. In 2018, 658 people died from maternal causes and the maternal mortality rate was 17.4 per 100,000.
2019 brought 96 more deaths and a significantly higher maternal mortality rate.
The United States continues to have the worst maternal mortality rate of all the world’s industrialized countries. It is estimated that 66% of the maternal deaths that occurred in 2019 were preventable.
Read More
August 11, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just launched a new campaign called HEAR Her. The mission of this new effort is to reduce the number of people who die during pregnancy or the first year after giving birth, currently estimated at over 700 individuals annually in the United States. Research indicates that over 60 percent of those deaths are preventable. Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) disproportionately die at higher rates than their white peers. Often, Black and Indigenous parents’ concerns are disregarded, minimized or ignored and situations that could be addressed are left untreated until it becomes a matter of life and death.
Read More
July 17, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
While there is no consensus amongst Maternal Mortality Review committees in operation in almost all 50 states about what actually constitutes a maternal death, there is one thing that everyone can agree on. More than two thirds of the deaths that do occur during or within a year of pregnancy are preventable!
Read More