This year, Healthy Start Inc.’s 2018 Annual Cheryl Squire Flint Cultural Sensitivity Symposium: “This Woman’s Work: Exploring Maternal Mortality and Morbidity” was held on Monday, May 21, 2018, at the University of Pittsburgh University Club.
Speakers from different disciplines came together to present on the public health issue of maternal morbidity and mortality, and related topics such as the life course perspective, disparities, traumatic birth experience, post-partum depression, prevention, and so much more.
Women in the United States are more likely to die from childbirth or pregnancy-related causes than women in other developed countries. Research suggests that half of these deaths may be preventable and racial disparities continue to persist. The risk of pregnancy-related deaths for black women is three to four times higher than those of white women. Furthermore, the CDC states that more than 135 expectant and new mothers a day—or roughly 50,000 a year—endure dangerous and even life-threatening complications that often leave them wounded, weakened, traumatized, financially devastated, unable to bear more children, or searching in vain for answers about what went wrong.
The keynote speaker was Adriana Gallardo, an award winning engagement reporter at ProPublica, based in New York City. Last year, Gallardo led engagement and reported for the Lost Mothers series which illuminated a national disgrace: the U.S. has the worst rate of maternal deaths in the developed world, and up to 60 percent of those deaths are preventable. This series was the 2018 winner of the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. After capruring the stories of hundreds of women and garnering feedback from thousands, Adriana brought to our symposium a fresh perspective on the maternal experience, gaps in data and reporting, and how we can address the issue of accountability.
About the series
Lost Mothers explores why the U.S., which spends more per capita on health care than any other country, also has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the developed world. With stories by ProPublica reporters Nina Martin, Adriana Gallardo, and Annie Waldman, as well as NPR special correspondent Renee Montagne, the reporting has called out those culpable and showed a way forward that could save lives and families that are too often destroyed by preventable tragedies.
The series includes intimate narratives of mothers who perished after failing to receive basic care; data analysis that established beyond a doubt the greater risks faced by African-American women; and a first-of-its kind database of the personal stories behind this issue.
A key element of the project has been a callout, asking people who knew someone who died or nearly died in pregnancy or childbirth to tell ProPublica their stories. Nearly 5,000 readers have responded, including over 4,000 who said they had almost died themselves.
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This event was hosted in partnership with Pitt Public Health’s Center for Health Equity and Healthy Start, Inc., co-sponsored by the Eden Hall Foundation and the Highmark Foundation, with additional support from Gateway Health and Allegheny Health Network.
The project was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number H49MC04495, Healthy Start Initiative: Eliminating Disparities in Perinatal Health in the amount of 1,814,000.00. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government.
6/20/2018