As maternal mortality skyrockets in the United States, a federal program created to improve rural maternity care has bypassed Black mothers, who are at the highest risk of complications and death related to pregnancy.
The grant-funded initiative, administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration, began rolling out four years ago and, so far, has budgeted nearly $32 million to provide access and care for thousands of mothers and babies nationwide — for instance, Hispanic women along the Rio Grande or Indigenous mothers in Minnesota.
KFF Health News found that none of the sites funded by the agency serves mothers in the Southeast, where the U.S. Census Bureau shows the largest concentration of predominantly Black rural communities. That omission exists despite a White House declaration to make Black maternal health a priority and statistics showing America’s maternal mortality rate has risen sharply in recent years. Non-Hispanic Black women — regardless of income or education level — die at nearly three times the rate of non-Hispanic white women.
“There’s a responsibility to respond to the crisis in a way that is more intentional,” said Jamila Taylor, chief executive of the National WIC Association, a nonprofit advocacy group for the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
“Why isn’t HRSA stepping up to the plate, especially with this rural moms’ program?” Taylor s …
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As maternal mortality skyrockets in the United States, a federal program created to improve rural maternity care has bypassed Black mothers, who are at the highest risk of complications and death related to pregnancy.
The grant-funded initiative, administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration, began rolling out four years ago and, so far, has budgeted nearly $32 million to provide access and care for thousands of mothers and babies nationwide — for instance, Hispanic women along the Rio Grande or Indigenous mothers in Minnesota.
KFF Health News found that none of the sites funded by the agency serves mothers in the Southeast, where the U.S. Census Bureau shows the largest concentration of predominantly Black rural communities. That omission exists despite a White House declaration to make Black maternal health a priority and statistics showing America’s maternal mortality rate has risen sharply in recent years. Non-Hispanic Black women — regardless of income or education level — die at nearly three times the rate of non-Hispanic white women.
“There’s a responsibility to respond to the crisis in a way that is more intentional,” said Jamila Taylor, chief executive of the National WIC Association, a nonprofit advocacy group for the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
“Why isn’t HRSA stepping up to the plate, especially with this rural moms’ program?” Taylor s …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]