Maternal Mortality in the US

Maternal mortality rates have been steadily declining worldwide since 2000. However, in 2017, the United States was one of two countries to experience a significant escalation in their maternal mortality rate. With a rate of 17.4 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies, the US has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world. The United States also spends the greatest amount of its GDP on healthcare; however, 66% of maternity-related deaths were found to be preventable. So if money isn’t the problem, why are women still dying?

For one, the United States has a very low supply of maternal care, and in addition, is predominantly using the wrong type of care. The World Health Organization encourages the use of midwives throughout pregnancy due to overwhelming evidence of the benefits they provide. Midwives are trained to help women throughout pregnancy, during birth, and postpartum. However, OB-GYNs are the more commonly used option. OB-GYNs are only trained to intervene when problems occur in the pregnancy. In most developed countries, there are many times more midwives than there are OB-GYNs available to pregnant women. The United States has rates of 12 and 15 midwives and OB-GYNs, respectively, per 1,000 births.  This indicates an overall shortage of care providers, as every other country has rates two to sixfold greater.

​Although coverage for midwives is required under the Affordable Care Act, the supply is too sparse to make any significant change. In addition, required physician oversight and state licensure laws limit the number of available midwives even further. This indicates further that a lack of midwives and related resources is causing women to suffer from less treatment throughout their pregnancies.

Read More