Maternal Mortality Rate by Race-Ethnicity, Texas 2007-2011

The Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force was started by the

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

in 2013 to help reduce

maternal death Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to pre ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The task force and DSHS must submit a joint report on the findings of the task force and recommendations to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House of Representatives, and appropriate committees of the Texas Legislature by September 1 of each even-numbered year, beginning September 1, 2016.Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force
on Department of State Heath Services website The

maternal mortality ratio The maternal mortality ratio is a key performance indicator (KPI) for efforts to improve the health and safety of mothers before, during, and after childbirth per country worldwide. Often referred to as MMR, it is the annual number of female death ...

(MMR) for the state of Texas was concluded to be the highest in the developed world in 2016, with the maternal mortality rate (MMRate) of the state surging beyond the poor MMRate of 48 states of the US (excluding California and Texas) at 23.8% to a remarkably high 35.8%. Texas 2011-2012 Maternal Death Cohorts - Six Most Prevalent Causes of Death by Race-Ethnicity

Texas 2011-2012 Maternal Death Cohorts - Six Most Prevalent Causes of Death by Race-Ethnicity

Leading Causes of Death by Race-Ethnicity, Healthy Texas Babies Initiative Oct 2017

In the United States the maternal mortality ratio rose during the years 2002-2015.Maternal mortality ratio (modeled estimate, per 100,000 live births)
on website of

The World Bank The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Grou ...

Although improvements in health care facilitated a dramatic decline in maternal mortality worldwide during the 20th century, women still die from complications of pregnancy, though there are significant differences in the top causes per region and income class. Since 1990 the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

measures both the maternal mortality ratio and the maternal mortality rate. In 1994 the period of measurement for a "maternal-related death" after childbirth was extended from six weeks to a year after the "birth event". The United States is one of the few developed countries for which both of the WHO measurements have gone up and not down. Nationally as well as in Texas, black women have a maternal mortality rate more than twice as high as White women and this disparity gap has increased since 2007, but the causes of this increase were unclear in 2013 and therefore the task force was formed to investigate. The estimated maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) for 48 states and Washington, DC (excluding California and Texas) increased by 26.6%, from 18.8 in 2000 to 23.8 in 2014. California showed a declining trend, whereas Texas had a sudden increase in 2011-2012. The Texas rate had nearly doubled. Although reproductive health and

is significantly different for black women, this is not part of the study conducted by the Boston

Black Women's Health Study The Black Women's Health Study (BWHS) is a long-term observational study conducted at Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center since 1995 to investigate the health problems of Black women over a long time period, with the ultimate goal of imp ...

and the taskforce is the only known body studying this aspect. Since convening in 2013 the task force has produced two reports, in July 2014 and in September 2016. In the latest report it shows a significantly higher increase in maternal mortality for black women. This may be related to a higher incidence of pre-pregnancy obesity, which has both been shown to be higher in black women and to be correlated to a first-time

cesarean section Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or mo ...

. It may also be related to discrimination in health care for black women, which can take the form of reduced access to services and information.Reproductive Injustice: Racial and Gender Discrimination in U.S. Health Care
by the

Center for Reproductive Rights The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is a global legal advocacy organization that seeks to advance reproductive rights, such as abortion. The organization's stated mission is to "use the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental huma ...

and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force Maternal death Demography History of Texas

See also

References