Marian MacDorman featured in Vox on Maternal Mortality Rate
Julia Belluz, a senior health correspondent writing for Vox, published an article on U.S.'s newly released maternal mortality rate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System: the number was - including deaths during pregnancy, at birth, or within 42 days of birth - 17.4 per 100,000 live births in 2018. This number, according to Belluz, indicates that U.S. still lags behind similarly wealthy countries on safe birth.
Faculty Associate Marian MacDorman, interviewed for the story, adds that it's "an embarrassment" for U.S. to take 11 years to update data on the rate, when "maternal mortality is a sentinel public health indicator and is one of the few health measures included in the United Nations Sustainable Health Goals." The data gap, especially in terms of how maternal deaths should be counted, requires immediate attention, she said.