The inequities laid bare by COVID-19 underscore the importance of states’ efforts to develop policies and interventions to address all health disparities. Systemic racism, a driver of these inequities, also fuels disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality – Black women are four-times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than White women.
States are on the frontlines, working to improve maternal health outcomes and address racial disparities through strategies such as work force development, implementing policies to dismantle structural racism and address its consequences, extending postpartum coverage, collecting stratified data, and implementing quality improvement initiatives. States have developed several strategic approaches to address maternal health disparities. (author introduction)