The maternal health crisis in America needs to be front and center, not only this week during Black Maternal Health Week but every single day because it’s abhorrent. There is absolutely no reason why it is what it currently is; if we cared. According to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CME), in 2020, healthcare expenditure in the U.S. accounted for 19.7% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). , we spent 4.1 trillion dollars on healthcare and healthcare-related products and services.

What we spend in America doubles and often triples what other high-income peer nations spend on healthcare yet we have the worst population health outcomes of our peers which include low life expectancy rates and high rates of infant mortality rates. This baffles the best of researchers but I find that it’s not that hard to understand. As a nation, we just haven’t cared enough to solve the maternal health crisis

Now that we have gotten that little background information, let’s talk about the issue we are frankly skirting around. Black mothers die 3 to 4 times more than white mothers during or after childbirth or worse, are 243 percent more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes which makes this the widest disparity in women’s health issue. Other countries spend far less and are not experiencing such disparities in maternal health care so what are we doing wrong? A lot.

Racism in America is at the underbelly of most institutional policies that overtly impact the maternal health crisis that is disproportionately affecting Black women. Healthcare policy usually reflects public opinion and how evident it is with the quality of care Black women receive compared to white women throughout their life course. I want to also drill down this point here – a woman’s maternal health is decided long before she decides to become a mother. Years of continuous wear and tear due to racial stressors and microaggressions do a number on the body. I’m not making this up. There’s a term called weathering which was coined by Arlene Geronimus that explains this further. It notes in simpler terms that the health deterioration is evident at all socioeconomic levels and even when adjusting/factoring this into any analysis, Black women still fare worse. I don’t want to add to the noise so here are a few immediate actions that can be done to help tackle this crisis if we care enough.