{"id":67991,"date":"2024-10-10T13:46:53","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T20:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=67991"},"modified":"2024-10-10T13:46:53","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T20:46:53","slug":"california-launches-effort-to-slash-maternal-deaths-by-half","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=67991","title":{"rendered":"California Launches Effort to Slash Maternal Deaths by Half"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Facing wide racial disparities, California aims to slash its maternal mortality rate by half in two years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Facing wide racial disparities, California aims to slash its maternal mortality rate by half in two years.<\/p>\n

Launched last month with a goal of December 2026,\u00a0Strong Start & Beyond<\/a>\u00a0is an educational campaign under California Surgeon General Dr. Diana E. Ramos to help mothers prevent pregnancy complications.<\/p>\n

Over 80% of maternal deaths are preventable.<\/p>\n

A key part of the campaign, using existing state Surgeon General Office funding, is an at-home risk assessment survey using research from Stanford scientists to help parents screen for risks like preeclampsia, sepsis, heart disease and preterm births.<\/p>\n

The campaign will also host community outreach events with health care and reproductive rights organizations statewide, promoting risk awareness and urging local health providers to adopt an\u00a0Obstetric Morbidity Index<\/a>\u00a0published by the National Library of Medicine.<\/p>\n

California has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the country and has led historic successes on this front before, cutting its maternal death rate 55% from 2006 to 2013.<\/p>\n

However, the pandemic saw overall maternal death rates skyrocket to 68.8% higher in 2021 than in 2019 \u2014 from 12.8 deaths to 21.6 per 100,000 live births, per the state data\u00a0dashboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not stopping just to have the lowest rate. One mom lost is one mom too many,\u201d said California Surgeon General Dr. Diana Ramos at a Monday, October 7 state-hosted ethnic media forum on Strong Start & Beyond.<\/p>\n

Statewide, the years between 2019 and 2021 saw an average of 70 annual deaths during pregnancy, at birth or within a year of it \u2014 one mother every five days, and over 200 mothers in all.<\/p>\n

Maternal disparities<\/h2>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really looking to address ethnic and racial disparities in maternal mortality,\u201d said Ramos. \u201cWhile we\u2019ve improved some rates, others are steadily increasing.\u201d<\/p>\n

From 2013 to 2021 \u2014 the latest data available \u2014 the Black maternal mortality rate improved from five to seven times higher, down to three to four times higher than other groups, or a current 49.7 deaths per 100,000 live births.<\/p>\n

But during that time, the Hispanic rate more than doubled from 7.5 to 17.7 deaths per 100,000 live births, while the Asian rate rose from 11.1 to 14.4, and the White rate rose from 12.3 to 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of Strong Start & Beyond is to address what moms are dying of, and focus on what can be done before they\u2019re pregnant,\u201d said Ramos.<\/p>\n

The past few years have seen new trends in causes.<\/p>\n

Increasingly, Californian mothers are dying from chronic issues like heart disease (23%) and behavioral health (12%), rather than traditional causes like bleeding (14%) or infection (12%).<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an OBGYN, that first appointment, I\u2019d tell a person \u2018It looks like you\u2019re going to be high-risk based upon your history.\u2019 And I would hear, over and over: \u2018I wish I\u2019d known before I became pregnant that I could have done something,\u2019\u201d said Ramos.<\/p>\n

She added that by the end of this year, the campaign will release its seven-question risk assessment survey \u201cto alert people to potential complications. We want to put this in the laundromats, the supermarket, wherever people are already, beyond the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of 2021, most maternal deaths in California \u2014 27.4% \u2014 occur one to six weeks after delivery, while 61.1% of deaths overall happen within the year after delivery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen are over half of the population, so we all know somebody who faces these risks,\u201d said Ramos. \u201cHaving a child is an amazing experience, but it\u2019s an exhausting experience, and it\u2019ll take a community effort to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mothers\u2019 stories<\/h2>\n

\u201cMy pregnancy was high-risk because I had diabetes, and I was 42. My doctors were great about asking me if I had any questions, but I never knew what to ask, because it was all so new. Right before the delivery, the doctor told me I would have to do it earlier, at 39 weeks. I said okay, without question, because I didn\u2019t know I had an option,\u201d said Sansanee Saejear, a single mother in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of California pregnancy-related deaths \u2014 43.1% \u2014 happen to mothers aged 40 and over.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat helped most was a friend of a friend, a doula,\u201d said Saejear. \u201cThe first few months after delivery, I\u2019d wake up at night because my baby would cry, and I\u2019d cry because I didn\u2019t know what to do. I couldn\u2019t sleep or take care of myself. The doula told me how to be there for my child, and took care of the child so I could get to sleep at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doulas are trained professionals who provide physical, emotional and educational support to patients before, during and after childbirth.<\/p>\n

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, \u201cone of the most\u00a0effective<\/a>\u00a0tools to improve labor and delivery outcomes is the continuous presence of support personnel, such as a doula.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the U.S. spends more on maternal care than any other first world country, we have the worst outcomes \u2014 and communities of color bear the brunt,\u201d said Kairis Chiaji, a Sacramento-based doula for over 25 years and founder of\u00a0Children of the Sun<\/a>\u00a0Doula Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not race \u2014 it\u2019s inaccessibility,\u201d she continued. \u201cIf we want to help the mothers who need support, we need to make sure there are no wrong doors \u2014 that when you\u2019re seeking mental health care, for example, any organization you reach out to will keep going until they find someone, like a doula, who can sit with you when you\u2019re crying at 2 a.m. and hold you through until 8 a.m., when you can call your provider.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have children aged six, three and one, and experienced severe postpartum preeclampsia with all three pregnancies,\u201d said Dr. Nzinga Graham-Hines, a Los Angeles-based physician. \u201cHigher education, better finances and zip codes protect for many health risks, but not so much when you\u2019re black and pregnant in our healthcare system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preeclampsia is an often severe and fatal \u200bcondition involving high blood pressure and signs of liver or kidney damage after the 20th week of pregnancy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s estimated to occur in 5% to 7% of all pregnancies, and occurs with Black women\u00a060% more<\/a>\u00a0than with White women nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter being induced early at 37 weeks and readmitted to the ER after birth, I recovered and lost weight, ran regularly and ate healthy \u2014 until I delivered my second baby and was readmitted again with preeclampsia,\u201d Graham-Hines explained. \u201cI did everything right, but the biggest risk factor for a health complication is having had it before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur system contributes to a lot of these complications with women of color,\u201d she continued. \u201cI went into the ER saying that I had the same symptoms \u2014 a headache, vision changes, elevated blood pressure \u2014 and even as a physician, I was dismissed as just anxious or tired.\u201d<\/p>\n

After her third pregnancy, she was back in the ER with the same symptoms six days after delivery, \u201cbut this time I chose a medical team that could advocate for me, and because of that I\u2019m still here with a healthy 13 month old son,\u201d Graham-Hines said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I could tell mothers anything, it would be: Don\u2019t be afraid to ask for help, but also, don\u2019t be afraid to ask for a different doctor,\u201d she added. \u201cAbove all, you need to be heard by the person caring for your life and your baby\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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