Maternal Mortality on the Rise in the United States

In the year 2000, according to Jeffrey, 19 out of 100,000 women died during pregnancy, and that number soared to 24 out of 100,000 women by 2014. Women whom have higher-income earnings have access to getting high-quality treatment from specialized professions. An aspect contributing to the problem is the location of the patients. In the rural areas, the problem is prevalent given the difficulty in accessing the services.  Although the number of maternal mortalities in the United States in 2000 was not much of problem, the rate of increase has been a cause for alarm (Creanga., et al.). The augmentation in the amount of women dying during and after pregnancy is an obvious sign of a deterioration of the health sector, especially in the gynecology department. There’s a need for seeking new measures to address the problem before it gets out of hand given that within a decade, the rate of maternal mortality has increased by 27% (Jeffrey). The problem is stemming from a lack of an effective strategy in the healthcare sector to address this issue. The increase of the maternal mortality rate in the United States and the failure of the health sector is something that needs to be addressed before it gets out of hand.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), maternal mortality is the death of a woman during pregnancy or 42 days after conception or termination of the pregnancy (Creaga). For a death of a woman to be counted as a maternal mortality, it must be related to the pregnancy and should not have been caused by an accident or any other external factor (Marian).  The problem with the maternal mortality rate is that it differs from one state to the other; therefore, there’s a need to establish a comprehensive report. The difference in maternal mortality rates from one state to other is influenced by the differences in socioeconomic factors such as income, and disparity in healthcare.

Even with the implementation of MDGs, the United States didn’t manage to decrease the rate of maternal mortality between the years 2000 and 2014.   The problem with the maternal mortality rate was also included as one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), where the aim was cutting the number of women that lose their life due to pregnancy-related complication by 75% (Lozano., et al.). Although the number of maternal mortalities in the United States in the year of 2000 was not much of problem, the increase of the rate should be a cause for concern.

It’s important to understand that the problem with the mortality rate is contributed by a wide range of factors such as inadequate resources, socio economic problems, lack of facilities, and lack of a strategic plan health sector to address this revolving issue. The medical facilities in the United States are not strategizing well enough to counter the problem due to various factors. Firstly, the medical facilities don’t have an adequate number of practitioners to ensure that employees across the country are able to access prompt services. Secondly, the healthcare sector doesn’t have a lucid strategy to ensure that every low-income earner have access to quality care just like high income earners.  This is the main reason why low-income earners in the United States are more likely to die due to pregnancy complications in comparison to individuals whom are high-income earners. Thirdly, the accessibility of healthcare services has contributed to the problem given that some women, especially in rural areas, live far from medical facilities (Creanga., et al.).

According to the report by the America Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologist (ACOG), the problem has been contributed by an uneven amount of distribution of gynecologists in the country. According to the findings, rural areas have few practitioners, only 6%, even though 15% (approximately 46 million people) live in rural areas. Therefore, women in the rural areas are forced to drive long distances of approximately 30 to 60 minutes as they seek for gynecological care. This puts women in rural areas at a high risk of falling victim of maternal mortality. There should be strong measures implemented to address the problem by making various changes within the health sector.

There are two major factors contributing to the high maternal mortality rate in the United States; the different socioeconomic factors and the inadequate policies to address the issue. Socioeconomic factors such as income and level of education have an influence on the quality of care. Low-income earners are more likely to die before, after birth, or during pregnancy termination as compared to high-income earners. This is due to low-income earners not having accessibility to quality care from highly qualified gynecologists. On the other hand, high-income earners are less likely to fall, victim of maternal mortality, because they tend to access quality and other professional support. On the other hand, educated women are less affected by the problem given that they more than likely know how to take care of their body as well as their unborn child.

There aren’t sound policies to ensure easy access to professional services during and after pregnancy. Unlike the United States other countries such as Finland and Austria have healthcare policies which ensure that pregnant women can access home care health services (MacDorman., et al.). Homecare methods provide pregnant women with an opportunity to access fast healthcare services (Parker). This prevents women from falling victims to complications that may come with pregnancy. Easy access to quality care helps to prevent women from complications because of access to early examination and diagnosis of any ailment that may complicate the pregnancy.

States have taken steps to ensure that they understand the problem. Governments at state levels have established the Materiality Mortality Review Committees (MMRCs) which are tasked with examining and proposing solutions (Parker). The MMRCs have been effective in addressing the problem of the maternal mortality rate such as in California. The State of California established their MMRC in 2006, which has been effective in addressing the problem by reducing the mortality rate by over 55%. The success of the MMRC in California was contributed by the accessibility of data that is essentially vital for the evaluation of any problem that may arise. Additionally, the state of California, with the right understanding of the problem, managed to put the right measures in place to ensure that women are able to access the right care during pregnancy and birth (Parker).

            A better strategy for collecting data related to the maternal mortality rate in the United States needs to be established. Examining the death and keeping good records can help to establish the right approach to addressing the problem (MacDorman., et al.). Record keeping and information can help to promote a multi-disciplinary. Healthcare facilities should create strategies to ensure that women across the country are able to access them and receive quality healthcare.  There should be collaboration with other key stakeholders in order to effectively address the problem. Firstly, there should be a priority in examining the data and other statistics about the problem rather than relying on information collected from private organizations. For over a decade, according to Jeffrey the Federal government has not published any statistics that can be used to understand the problem.

            In order to address the problem, there’s a need for establishing a strong collaboration between health care facilities and members of the communities. Engagement with members of the community can help to ensure accessibility to health service that is needed. Working with other members of the communities can help to ensure that all women in communities and rural areas are able to access quality care (Jeffrey). Community-based organizations can help the members of the community to learn various issues related to pregnancy. For instance, community-based organizations can help to ensure that women in low-income communities are educated on nutrition during pregnancy and other issues that affect the quality of pregnancy such as drugs, substance abuse and stress.  In addition, when working with communities, the government should focus on electing new facilities, especially in communities without healthcare facilities (MacDorman., et al.). This measure can ensure that women are able to access medical care when pregnant at the community level.

            The government can emulate other countries that have established a measure to ensure that women are able to access care from home. When practitioners visit pregnant women at home, they can help to significantly reduce the rate of maternal mortality especially in rural areas (Marian). Women in the rural are faced with the challenge of accessing medical faculties where they must travel long distances to get care while they’re pregnant. Additionally, the government should establish measures to ensure that every woman in society is able to access gynecological services despite their level of income. Maternal mortality is high among low-income earners because they can’t access gynecological services due to its high cost. Therefore, reducing the cost can help to cut on the rate of maternal mortality rate in the country (MacDorman., et al.).     

The increase in the number of women dying during and after pregnancy is a clear sign of a deteriorating of the health sector, especially in the gynecologist department. There’s a need for seeking measures to address the problem before it gets out of hand given that within a decade, 2000-2014, the rate of maternal mortality increased by 27%. The problem varies from different women in the country and it’s influenced by the socioeconomic factors and the healthcare policies that exist. Minorities are more affected by the problem of their high level of stress combined with socioeconomic factors. The women in the rural areas are also likely to face pregnancy-related deaths because of the long distance they must travel when seeking for medical treatment. In order to address the problem, it’s important to first ratify healthcare policies that promote equal access to healthcare.  The government should engage in providing an adequate amount of finance to the healthcare facilities to promote easy access to healthcare services among women of all social class and from different locations across the country. The United States Maternal Mortality Rate is a more than a cause for concern.

Works Cited

Andreea A. Creanga, Cynthia J. Berg, Jean Y. Ko, Sherry L. Farr, Van T. Tong, F. Carol Bruce, and William M. Callaghan.  “Maternal mortality and morbidity in the United States: where are we now?.” Journal of Women’s Health. Volume 23, Issue 1 (2014): 3-9. doi:10.1089/jwh.2013.4617

Jeffrey C. King MD. “Maternal mortality in the United States–why is it important and what are we doing about it?” Seminars in Perinatology. Volume 36, Issue 1. Feb 2012, pp. 14-18. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22280860.

Lozano, R., Wang, H., Foreman, K. J., Rajaratnam, J. K., Naghavi, M., Marcus, J. R., … & Lopez, A. D. (2011). “Progress towards Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on maternal and child mortality: an updated systematic analysis”. The Lancet. Volume 380, Issue 9859. 15 Dec. 2012. pp 1139-1165. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)61719-X/fulltext.

Marian F. MacDorman, Ph.D., Eugene Declercq, Ph.D., Howard Cabral, Ph.D., and Christine Morton. “Is the United States Maternal Mortality Rate Increasing? Disentangling trends from measurement issues Short title: U.S. Maternal Mortality Trends”. Obstet Gynecol. 2016 Sep. 128(3): 447–455. Ph.D.4 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001799/

Tyan D. Parker “Addressing the High Rates of Adverse Birth Outcomes and Infant Mortality among U.S.-Born Black Women”. USC University of South California. 18 Apr. 2018.  https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/news/addressing-the-high-rates-of-adverse-birth-outcomes-and-infant-mortality-among-us-born-black .