Moms and babies need us now more than ever.
The March of Dimes 2020 report, Nowhere to Go: Maternity Care Deserts Across the U.S., identifies counties in which access to maternity health care services is limited or absent, either through lack of services or barriers to a woman’s ability to access that care. The report found that 7 million women of childbearing age live in counties with limited or no access to maternity care. Women who live in these areas give birth 1 in 8 babies (500,000 babies) a year.
About 35% of counties (1,095 counties) across the U.S. are identified as maternity care deserts – counties with no hospital that is staffed appropriately to provide care for pregnant women and no obstetrician/gynecologist or certified nurse midwives to care for them.
Additional Key Findings:
Every 12 hours a woman dies
due to complications resulting from pregnancy.
Black women are 3 times more likely
than White women to die from pregnancy-related causes nationwide.
3.3 million women
live in urban counties, yet still lack full access to maternity care.
Support #BLANKETCHANGE
Supporting #BlanketChange means demanding equity, access, and prevention. If you demand #BlanketChange you are calling for:
• Eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities and driving economic, social and health equity by focusing on prevention, treatment and social determinants of health.
• Improving access to care through expanding critical health programs and closing gaps in coverage.
• Addressing preventable health conditions through expanding research and improving maternal morbidity and mortality data collection.
We imagine a nation where every mom and every baby is healthy, regardless of wealth, race or geography. Providing women with access to quality health care is a critical part of this equation. We hope you join us in this fight for the health of all moms and babies. Visit BlanketChange.org to learn more.
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