By Christina Hernandez Sherwood
New and expectant mothers in the United States are more likely to die than those in any other developed country in the world. In 2021, the year Talicia Williams’ daughter, Zahiri, was born, the U.S. maternal mortality rate was nearly 33 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For Black women in Philadelphia like Williams, the risk of death is four times that of their white counterparts. Perhaps the most heartbreaking: more than 80 percent of these deaths are preventable.
Penn Medicine is committed to changing that trend. Read more about how Penn Medicine is working to eliminate inequities at every stage in the continuum of care in a four-part story on Penn Medicine’s Service in Action site:
Helping Black families to grow and thrive by reducing maternal morbidity and mortality is a broad effort across Penn Medicine. Part 1 of the story provides an overview and Talicia Williams’ experience.
Pregnancy and delivery are crucial time periods where some of the most important efforts are aimed at not just standardizing the highest quality of care, but also reversing racism in the health care system and targeting outreach to Black communities in order to rebuild trust.
The first few weeks postpartum, when parents go home with their newborns, are also a critical period. During this time, innovative technology-based programs created at Penn Medicine help connect parents to care that can not only ease their transition, but prevent medical complications.
After and in between pregnancies, other initiatives seek to build upon the uniquely intense connection that pregnant people have with the health care system—to help build a bridge toward sustaining lifelong health for themselves, and for their entire families.