Maternal Mortality

Brad Edwards and doula Kyra Betts chat at a Dads to Doulas information session in a birthing suite in Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

For every 100,000 births in Missouri between 2017 and 2021, more than 32 people died because of pregnancy-related complications — an average of 70 deaths annually.

Missouri continues to see maternal and infant mortality rates, breast and cervical cancer death rates, preterm births, congenital syphilis and depression around pregnancy at rates that are higher than the national average. It also fared among the worst nationally for mental health.

Jamaa Birth Village in Ferguson and St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office are partnering to help St. Louisans understand the importance of Black doulas.

Leaders from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration visited St. Louis University on Wednesday to discuss what federal officials could do to reduce the state’s high rate of maternal and infant deaths. Community health workers, patients and government officials took part in a roundtable at St. Louis University with agency officials from Washington, D.C.

At an event about pregnancy and maternal health convened by the St. Louis Department of Health on Thursday, a panel of health workers said quality pre- and post-natal health care provided by workers beyond clinical health settings is essential to reducing the state’s maternal and infant mortality rates.

Doulas and birth centers are considered part of the solution to Missouri’s ‘unacceptable’ maternal mortality crisis. But current law makes it difficult to help mothers most in need.

In the majority of Missouri’s rising cases of congenital syphilis, mothers had little to no prenatal care, highlighting a larger issue of maternal health care access. Legislation introduced in the House and Senate aims to address the crisis.

In Missouri and Nebraska, information about maternal mortality rates among Hispanic women is not reliable. That’s a challenge for health care organizations that depend on those statistics to send resources to that population.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has included millions in his proposed budget to bolster efforts aimed to reduce deaths among pregnant women and new mothers. The plan includes funds to support doulas, midwives and other community birth workers.