CNN: US maternal death rate rose sharply in 2021, CDC data shows, and experts worry the problem is getting worse

CNN: US maternal death rate rose sharply in 2021, CDC data shows, and experts worry the problem is getting worse

Concerning news came out today about U.S. maternal deaths surging to the highest rate in nearly 60 years. OBHG Site Director Dr. Chasity Jennings-Nunez was quoted in a major news outlet’s (CNN) reporting on the topic. You can read Dr. Jennings-Nunez’ quotes below and click here to read the full article.

The Covid-19 pandemic also may have exacerbated existing racial disparities in the maternal death rate among Black women compared with White women, said Dr. Chasity Jennings-Nuñez, a California-based site director with Ob Hospitalist Group and chair of the perinatal/gynecology department at Adventist Health-Glendale, who was not involved in the new report.

“In terms of maternal mortality, it continues to highlight those structural and systemic problems that we saw so clearly during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Jennings-Nuñez said.

“So in terms of issues of racial health inequities, of structural racism and bias, of access to health care, all of those factors that we know have played a role in terms of maternal mortality in the past continue to play a role in maternal mortality,” she said. “Until we begin to address those issues, even without a pandemic, we’re going to continue to see numbers go in the wrong direction.”