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In their new Forefront article, Teresa Janevic and Elizabeth Howell from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and- the University of Pennsylvania discuss how media coverage refuting the existence of a maternal health crisis misses the mark and threatens to undermine progress. While maternal mortality statistics are complex, they argue, the overall picture of maternal health inequity in the US is crystal clear and presents a crisis upon which we must act. "The truth is that maternal mortality statistics are confusing, and measuring maternal mortality has long been challenging. The maternal mortality rate (MMR) calculated by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the statistic most recently under debate, uses state death certificates only and focuses on deaths within 42 days of delivery. The current controversy centers on the pregnancy checkbox on the death certificate and on recent research demonstrating that use of the checkbox corresponded with an increase in the reported maternal mortality rate. The checkbox was implemented between 2003 and 2017, in response to earlier investigations revealing that the method used to calculate the US maternal mortality rate was underestimating deaths." Read the full article here: https://bit.ly/3AWoVzQ

Elizabeth G. Marshall

Epidemiology, sustainability,environmental and occupational health practice

1mo

Congratulations on raising awareness of both the science and important inequities!

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