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The Most Dangerous Place to Give Birth in the World and Four Ways You Can Help
Despite decades of progress in global health, pregnancy and childbirth remain life-threatening events for millions of women, especially in the world’s most fragile settings.
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Donate to Help Expecting Mothers in Haiti
It is difficult to believe how much Haiti is suffering. Not only was its president assassinated a little over a month ago, but a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit last weekend with a death toll now of over 1400. And, if that is not enough, a tropical storm is quickly barreling its way towards the island…
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The Universal Human Right to an Identity from Birth Explained
By Caroline Kinsella, Advocacy and Communications Intern, White Ribbon Alliance One of the more hidden human rights abuses around the world is the fact that one billion people have no legal proof of identity. Alarmingly, UNICEF estimates that about one in four children under age 5, or 166 million, are unregistered and without any trace…
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5 Virtual Valentine’s Day Gifts to Help Mothers Worldwide
This year while we are all still mostly locked down due to Covid-19, there are ways in which we can donate to the issues we care about most. For SocialGoodMoms.com, our primary issue is mothers — always has been and always will be — and there are a vast majority of ways to help moms…
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2021 Black Maternal Health Legislation Updated With Covid-19, Climate Change Bills #Momnibus
In 2020, Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) and Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) along with then California senator Kamala Harris introduced the Black Maternal Health Momnibus, a series of nine bills that took racial disparities out of the maternal health outcomes, funded communty-based maternal health organizations, improved data collection, and invested in digital health tools among other pertinent issues.…
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Black Doctor Dies During Childbirth #MaternalHealth #BlackMaternalHeaLTH
I do not take pleasure in writing about black maternal health in general or specifically about black women who die either during pregnancy, giving birth, directly after birth, or even a year after having a baby. In fact, it is depressing. In this case, however, despite the other women who have died publicly during and/or…
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CDC Launches Campaign To Raise Awareness About Pregnancy and Postpartum Warning Signs
The other day I wrote about a Youtube mom who recently gave birth to her son and then recognized that her blood pressure was too high after she was released from the hospital. She immediately visited her OBGYN and then ultimately was hospitalized due to the severity of her condition, preeclampsia. You can follow her…
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![[VIDEO] Mother Advocates for Her Own Health After Delivery And Preeclampsia #BlackMaternalHealth](https://socialgoodmoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/rushed-to-the-hospital-youtube.png)
[VIDEO] Mother Advocates for Her Own Health After Delivery And Preeclampsia #BlackMaternalHealth
A few years ago I was honored to speak at Blogher with Merck for Mothers. The panel was about maternal health outcomes globally as well as in the United States. As I have mentioned so many times on this blog, the United States leads the developing world with maternal health deaths. This number is exaccerbated…
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The CDC Releases Newly Updated Maternal Death Statistics in Over a Decade
United States maternal death statistics that have been used for over a decade have finally been updated. The CDC released 2018 national and state maternal death estimates last week. The numbers have increased dramatically and still remain the worst of any developed country in the world. Currently, the maternal mortality rate (MMR) is 17.4 deaths…
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Woman Dies From Pregnancy-Related Complications After Waiting Hours in Emergency Room
You have probably heard the story of Tashonna Ward, the 25-year-old Milwaukee woman who recently spent hours in the emergency room due to shortness of breath and died after waiting too long. Ward was told that she would spend between two to six hours in wait time at the ER according to distressing posts on…
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Joint Commission Creates New Standards of Care to Curb Maternal Mortality
One of the leading causes of maternal mortality in the United States is hemorrhaging. In fact, according to the CDC hemorrhaging accounts for 11.2% of pregnancy-related deaths. Based on these increasing numbers since 1986 the Joint Commission, the country’s leading accreditation organization for hospitals, has created 13 new standards for perinatal safety for hospitals to…
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Congressional Black Maternal Health Caucus Launches on Capitol Hill
On Tuesday the first congressional caucus on black maternal health launched on Capitol Hill. Led by Democrat congresswomen Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) and freshman Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Il.) the caucus’s mission is to ensure black women are not dying senselessly during or after childbirth As has been noted here many times before black women experience…
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A Pregnancy Series You Can Really Binge on Facebook Watch
After recently receiving a press release about a pregnancy docuseries on Facebook Watch I have been hooked! As a maternal health advocate, it takes a lot to stop me in my tracks, but 9 Months With Courteney Cox has really opened my eyes on the realities of pregnancy in America. After all, it has been twenty…
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11 Maternal Health Organizations to Support This Year
Maternal mortality continues to be a major problem the world over. The United States is the only developed country where maternal death rates are increasing especially for non-Hispanic black women. And in low-and-middle income countries, approximately 830 women die each day from pregnancy-related, preventable causes.
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Preventers of Maternal Deaths in the US Could Receive Millions in Funding
The relatively large number of American women who die due to childbirth is one of the little-known facts in our country. In a nation where we spend exorbitant amounts on healthcare, we have the highest maternal mortality rate of any other developed country. Word, however, is getting out that women are increasingly susceptible of dying…
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Europe Is Tackling Its Own Maternal Health Issues. Here’s Why. #MakeMotherhoodCount
We know that women in low-and-middle income countries are especially prone to maternal mortality. Those of us of who write about maternal health and keep up with worldwide maternal health, mortality, and morbidity statistics understand that in the world’s poorest countries we find the worst outcomes for both mothers and their infants. In recent years,…
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Kenya Maternity Fee Waiver is Great – But There are Still Gaps in the Policy
Kenya’s pregnancy policy hasn’t addressed the inequalities between rich and poor. Shutterstock Estelle Monique Sidze, African Population and Health Research Center About 21 pregnant women die every day in Kenya due to complications from childbirth. That’s equivalent to two 10-seater commuter micro minibuses, known as matatus, crashing every day with the loss of all the…
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Why Family Planning Matters for Maternal Deaths and Child Survival
Contraception empowers women to plan the number of children they will have. Tizta Tilahun Degfie, African Population and Health Research Center Family planning improves child survival and reduces maternal deaths. But the uptake of family planning in Africa is only 33%, nearly half the world average of 64%. The contraceptive prevalence rate in African countries…
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Ensuring Safer Pregnancies for Kenyan Women in Urban Slums
Antenatal care is important during pregnancy. Reuters Blessing Mberu, African Population and Health Research Center; Kanyiva Muindi, African Population and Health Research Center, and Patricia Elungata, McGill University Globally, there’s a general decline in the number of women who die from pregnancy or childbirth complications. However in Kenya, it remains high at 488 deaths per…
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Recent Thoughts on Global Maternal Health
As an ardent supporter and advocate for maternal health, I am always happy to share my thoughts about the issue with a wider audience. I recently shared my thoughts with Merck for Mothers, a 10-year $500 million initiative supporting women during pregnancy and childbirth. RT if you agree with @JenniferJames. We must work to #EndMaternalMortality. pic.twitter.com/UXKNyE3rdb…