June 3, 2011
What Does the Maternal Health Care Crisis Look Like in the U.S.?
Amnesty International recently released a maternal health graphic, bringing attention to the country’s maternal health care crisis, as well as legislative developments in the last year that could signal some progress on the issue.
It shows that despite spending more money per capita on healthcare than any other country, we rank 50th in the world for our maternal mortality ratios. To make matter worse, while care for childbearing women and newborns is the number one reason for hospitalization in the U.S., preventable deaths of both newborns and mothers in relation to childbirth are alarmingly high, especially for women of color.
The Minority Brief 