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Maternal Health Equity

Maternal death rates and inequities in the United States are high — and on the rise. 

A young African American mother in a hospital gown gently holds her infant in her arms and smiles down at her. The baby's eyes are closed.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the likelihood of death from pregnancy-related causes among birthing people who identify as Black, American Indian, or Alaska Native is two to three times higher compared to their White counterparts. Academic medicine has a unique role to play in the multisector collaborations needed to reverse these trends through policy, research, and action.

Our Approach

The AAMC is committed to a multipronged approach to avoid all preventable maternal deaths and improve maternal health and health equity around the country. The AAMC Center for Health Justice develops resources, convenes experts, and strengthens efforts around maternal health. Through equitable partnerships with communities, the center will work to understand the severity and complexity of maternal health inequities, advocate for policy solutions, and support innovative research for interventions to eliminate inequities that threaten the health and well-being of all birthing people.

A Black mother and father excitedly tell their older child that he's going to have a sibling, while holding the mother's pregnant belly.

Trustworthy Care from Conception to Cradle: A Key Ingredient for Maternal Health Equity

To improve maternal health equity, efforts must address system-level issues, such as institutional trustworthiness and access to timely, respectful care. Learn more about what U.S. adults say about their birthing experiences.

Read the Brief

Resources 

Research and Policy Analysis

The center conducts maternal health research and policy analysis to evaluate the potential health effects of proposed plans, projects, or policies before they are developed or implemented. It also provides practical recommendations to increase positive and minimize negative maternal outcomes.

Illustration of three people with brown skin posing together and smiling. One has dreadlocks and is pregnant, one has wavy hair and is pregnant, and the last has short hair and an earring and holds a baby in a sling.

Foundations of Responsible NLP Use for Maternal Health Equity

A comprehensive guide to including the voices of women and birthing people in natural language processing research and clinical decision support tools. Watch the video and check out the foundations.

Foundations of NLP
A pregnant person with brown skin and long curly black hair holding their belly looking out over a landscape with speech bubbles, a magnifying glass, a hospital, computer chips, and raised fists.

Maternal Health Equity Workshop: From Story to Data to Action

On May 18th, this virtual follow-up event from the Maternal Health Incubator brought together clinical care, research, public health, and technology to explore AI tools like natural language processing for improving qualitative maternal health equity data. 

Watch the Recording
Happy Black mother and father with their small child playing on the floor with blocks and a stuffed toy.

Paid Leave: A Health Justice Imperative for Maternal Mental Health

The U.S. is the only high-income country that has not enacted a national paid family leave program. The AAMC Center for Health Justice analyzed data from the CDC on the impact of paid leave on racial and ethnic maternal mental health inequities. 

Read the Brief
Young parent holds their baby with happy grandparent

From Pregnancy to Policy

A nationally representative poll of 1200 people who gave birth in the last five years shows a diversity of pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences.

Read the Brief
Two Black parents kiss their baby

Polling Spotlight: Understanding the Experiences of LGBTQ+ Birthing People

This polling spotlight expands on the findings in From Pregnancy to Policy to highlight the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ birthing people.

Read the Spotlight
Image of a person holding a newborn baby in a hospital bed

AAMC Center for Health Justice Maternal Health Incubator

In this two-day virtual convening shared evidence-based, innovative strategies to decrease racial and ethnic maternal health gaps and developed a collaborative, multisector action plan aimed at eliminating inequities through local, state, and federal policies and hyper-local collaborations.

Watch the Recording

AAMC Maternal Health Fact Sheet

The AAMC Maternal Health Fact Sheet (PDF) highlights the efforts that the AAMC and its member institutions have undertaken to combat the maternal health crisis and strengthen the systems that improve the health of birthing people and their infants.

Maternal Mental Health

The AAMC develops resources and webinars for advocacy, education, and collaboration for better maternal health outcomes as part of its mission to improve health care.

AAMC Maternal Health External Work Group (established in 2019)

This multidisciplinary network of experts in and beyond academic medicine, convened monthly by AAMC CHARGE (the Collaborative for Health Equity: Act, Research, Generate Evidence), serves as a hub where participants can share ideas and resources, funding opportunities, events, achievements, and news related to maternal health equity interests and initiatives.