(Source: CDC Women Health)
At a glance
Black Maternal Health Week is recognized each year from April 11-17 to bring attention and action in improving Black maternal health. Everyone can play a role in working to prevent pregnancy-related deaths and improving maternal health outcomes.
Most Pregnancy-Related Deaths are Preventable
Each year in the United States, hundreds of women die during pregnancy or in the year after. Thousands more have unexpected outcomes of labor and delivery with serious short- or long-term health consequences. Every pregnancy-related death is tragic, especially because more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are preventable. Recognizing urgent maternal warning signs, providing timely treatment, and delivering respectful, quality care can prevent many pregnancy-related deaths.
Racial Disparities Exist
Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women. Multiple factors contribute to these disparities, such as variation in quality healthcare and underlying chronic conditions. Social determinants of health prevent many women from racial and ethnic minority groups from having fair opportunities for economic, physical, and emotional health.
Working Together to Reduce Black Maternal Mortality
During Black Maternal Health Week, learn how you can support pregnant women in your life to reduce factors that contribute to pregnancy-related complications and death.
Pregnant women and their families can:
- Talk to a healthcare provider if anything doesn’t feel right or is concerning.
- Know and seek immediate care if experiencing any of the urgent maternal warning signs, including severe headache, extreme swelling of hands or face, trouble breathing, heavy vaginal bleeding or discharge, overwhelming tiredness, and more. These symptoms could indicate a potentially life-threatening complication.
- Share recent pregnancy history during each medical care visit for up to one year after delivery.
- Connect with healthcare and social support systems before, during, and after pregnancy.
Healthcare providers can:
- Ask questions to better understand their patient and things that may be affecting their lives.
- Help patients, and those accompanying them, understand the urgent maternal warning signs and when to seek medical attention right away.
- Help patients manage chronic conditions or conditions that may arise during pregnancy like hypertension, diabetes, or depression.
- Respond to any concerns patients may have.
- Provide all patients with respectful quality care.
Hospitals and healthcare systems can:
- Standardize coordination of care and response to emergencies.
- Improve delivery of quality prenatal and postpartum care.
- Train non-obstetric care providers to ask about pregnancy history in the preceding year.
States and communities can:
- Everyone has a role to play in promoting maternal health. Assess and coordinate delivery hospitals for risk-appropriate care.
- Support review of the causes and opportunities for preventionbehind every pregnancy-related death.
- Identify and address social factorsinfluencing maternal health such as unstable housing, transportation access, food insecurity, substance use, violence, and economic inequality.
CDC Activities to Prevent Maternal Mortality
To prevent pregnancy-related deaths, CDC:
- Supports states through theEnhancing Reviews and Surveillance to Eliminate Maternal Mortality (ERASE MM) Program. This work facilitates an understanding of the drivers of maternal mortality and complications of pregnancy to better prevent maternal deaths and reduce racial disparities.
- Supports state perinatal quality collaboratives (PQCs)to improve the quality of care for mothers and their babies. This work supports the capabilities of PQCs to improve the quality of perinatal care in their states, including efforts to improve equity in care and outcomes.
- Helps states standardize their assessments of levels of maternal and newborn care for their delivery hospitals by offering the CDC Levels of Care Assessment Tooland providing technical assistance to those who want to use it.
- Promotes the Hear Hercampaign to raise awareness of potentially life-threatening warning signs during and after pregnancy and improve communication between patients and their healthcare providers.
More Information
- CDC Hear Her Campaign
- CDC Maternal and Infant Health
- Maternal Mortality
- HHS Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Maternal Health Care
- Black Mamas Matter Alliance – Advancing Black Maternal Health, Rights & Justice
