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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
DECLARING MATERNAL MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY AS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS
WHEREAS, each year in the U.S., hundreds of women die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, known as maternal death, at a rate many times greater than in other developed nations; and
WHEREAS, maternal death/mortality is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes, and maternal morbidity as "any health condition attributed to and/or complicating pregnancy, and childbirth that has a negative impact on the woman's well-being and/or functioning"; and
WHEREAS, Health and Human Services officials and stakeholders stated that the pandemic worsened factors contributing to maternal health disparities, like access to care, cardiovascular problems and other underlying conditions; and
WHEREAS, in 2021, the U.S. had one of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the country's history going back to 1965. 1,205 people died of maternal causes in the U.S. in 2021, which represents a 40% increase from the previous year, and the U.S. rate for 2021 was 32.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, which is more than ten times the estimated rates of some other high-income countries, including Australia, Austria, Israel, Japan and Spain which all reported between 2 and 3 deaths per 100,000 in 2020; and
WHEREAS, according to the CDC, cardiovascular conditions such as pulmonary embolisms, uncontrolled bleeding and problems emanating from hypertension are the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. and sadly most, up to 80%, of maternal deaths due to clinical, system, social, community or patient factors are preventable, as the health-care solutions to prevent or manage complications are wel...
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