Despite significant medical advancements, the U.S. continues to have one of the highest maternal mortality rates among high-income countries. Because maternal health is influenced by a wide range of factors—from access to care and quality of services to a mother’s support networks, employment status and access to healthy foods—addressing these challenges requires a comprehensive approach that supports women before, during and after pregnancy.
To ensure support in each of those stages of a mother’s journey, the CDC Foundation’s maternal health work focuses on improving data collection and information sharing, educating and training health care providers, designing programs tailored to community needs and evaluating and strengthening health care systems.
Improving Maternal Health Through Collaboration
A central pillar of the CDC Foundation’s maternal health work is supporting Maternal Mortality Review Committees (MMRC). Comprised of representatives from public health, obstetrics and gynecology, maternal-fetal medicine, nursing, midwifery, forensic pathology, mental and behavioral health, patient advocacy groups and community-based organizations, these state and local level multidisciplinary committees review pregnancy-related deaths. If those deaths are found to be preventable, the MMRC makes recommendations on how to prevent such deaths in the future.
Collaboration allows for real, meaningful change at the community level.
Implementing those recommendations falls to Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (PQCs)—state-based networks of hospitals, providers, patients, public health practitioners and other partners supported by the CDC Foundation in their efforts to improve the quality of care for mothers and babies. Operating in more than 52 territories and states , PQCs and are designed to identify health care processes in need of improvement to drive population-level change. Through these networks, teams collaborate to identify priorities, implement evidence-based interventions and use data to continuously improve care for mothers and babies.
“The most powerful aspect of PQCs is that they bring together stakeholders who might not otherwise be in the same room, but who all play a critical role in protecting maternal health,” said Rebecca Heyman, technical advisor for maternal health at the CDC Foundation. “This kind of collaboration allows for real, meaningful change at the community level.”
CDC Foundation supports maternal and child health across a spectrum of programs and activities, like this 1.5-mile community walk in Baltimore dedicated to raising awareness and promoting healthy beginnings for babies and families.
A mother tells her story at the Be Vocal event in Virginia hosted by Huddle Up Moms, a community-based organization supported by the CDC Foundation through the Hear Her maternal health communication campaign. Photo by Amber Perdue Photography
Pregnancy-related risks, including preeclampsia, infections, preterm birth and other severe complications, require coordinated, high-quality care systems. PQCs help ensure that hospitals and providers are equipped with the tools, protocols and training needed to respond effectively. In addition to supporting how they engage with both the data and the recommendations provided by the MMRCs, the CDC Foundation is helping PQCs strengthen how they communicate and engage with their communities. Through tailored technical assistance, workshops and shared resources, the CDC Foundation works one-on-one with PQCs to develop clear, far reaching and impactful communication strategies, ensuring that critical maternal health information reaches those who need it most.
Expanding Impact
The CDC Foundation’s maternal health work extends beyond PQCs to reach women with a broad range of support. Given that nearly one in five women report experiencing mistreatment during maternity care, efforts like the Hear Her campaign highlight the importance of respectful, patient-centered care as the foundation for improving maternal outcomes. The campaign raises awareness about urgent maternal warning signs during and after pregnancy and encourages pregnant and postpartum individuals to speak up if something does not feel right.
Through the Healthy Native Babies project, the CDC Foundation partners with tribal-serving organizations to provide training and resources aimed at reducing sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related infant deaths. This work emphasizes the importance of culturally relevant care within communities. Similarly, gaps in data and under-representation in health systems can create barriers to care for American Indian and Alaska Native populations. To help address the issue, the CDC Foundation is working to improve data visibility, enhance provider training and ensure that these communities are better represented in maternal health initiatives.
“Strengthening maternal health depends on trust and cultural awareness,” said Joi Henry, program officer at the CDC Foundation. “When we have data that reflects the experiences of different groups, providers and health systems can better recognize and support them.”
Joi Henry, program officer at the CDC Foundation, emphasizes the importance of trust and cultural awareness in strengthening maternal health.
A woman utilizes a mobile clinic outreach service supported through a CDC Foundation project.
Rebecca Heyman, technical advisor for maternal health at the CDC Foundation, says that collabortion between stakeholders allows for real impact at the community level.
These CDC Foundation maternal health efforts are part of a broader collection of programs designed to strengthen health systems and improve health outcomes for mothers and expectant mothers in communities across the country. These include supporting Maternal Mortality Review Committees, expanding surveillance for stillbirth and maternal health data, enhancing the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, advancing early hearing detection and child health initiatives and strengthening public health data systems and workforce capacity.
Together, these efforts create a comprehensive network of support that addresses maternal health from multiple angles, across populations and throughout the continuum of care.
“The well-being of children starts with the health of their mothers,” Heyman said. “If we are not providing mothers with the resources and care they need, we are not setting families up for success.”
At the heart of that effort is investing in systems that work and creating programs that ensure every mother has access to safe, respectful and quality care. Because when maternal health improves, families thrive, communities grow stronger and lives are saved.