By Edward Henderson
Contributing Writer
SACRAMENTO — African American women experience a maternal mortality rate three times higher than the state average, with the most common cause of death being cardiovascular disease.
California first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom, has joined forces with the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications in collaboration with the Office of the California Surgeon General to promote the state’s new “Strong Start & Beyond” movement.
Launched in September, the effort aims to reduce maternal mortality in California by 50% by December 2026.
“California is uniquely positioned to build on proven initiatives that enhance maternal health and reduce disparities,” said Siebel-Newsom, as the state led a coordinated effort to raise awareness of the program and its push to impact Black women. “We are setting critical goals to improve maternal health outcomes and creating a robust support network for mothers, from preconception through postpartum care, addressing the diverse needs of our population and setting an example for the nation.”
The Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications manages the state’s priority community engagement and public awareness efforts. It works in collaboration with other state agencies, and stakeholders to realize more inclusive and effective outcomes in statewide outreach initiatives.
Black mothers continue to experience higher rates of complications during pregnancy and suffer from maternal behavioral health conditions at alarming rates.
A key part of the campaign, using existing state surgeon general office funding, is an at-home risk assessment survey using research from Stanford scientists to help parents screen for risks like preeclampsia, sepsis, heart disease and preterm births.
The campaign also will host community outreach events with health care and reproductive rights organizations statewide, promoting risk awareness and urging local health providers to adopt an Obstetric Morbidity Index published by the National Library of Medicine.
California has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the country and has led historic successes on this front before, cutting its maternal death rate 55% from 2006 to 2013.
However, the pandemic saw overall maternal death rates skyrocket to 68.8% higher in 2021 than in 2019 — from 12.8 deaths to 21.6 per 100,000 live births, per the state data dashboard.
Every five days a mother dies due to pregnancy-related complications. Leading causes of maternal deaths are heart disease (23%), bleeding (14%), behavioral health (mental illness/substance overdose) (12%), and infection (excluding COVID-19 infections) (12%), according to the California Maternal Health Blueprint. About 62% of the deaths occur after the baby is delivered.
Dr. Diana E. Ramos, California surgeon general, presented “Strong Start & Beyond” during a media webinar earlier this month, emphasizing the movement’s focus on reducing racial and ethnic disparities in maternal health outcomes that disproportionately affect communities of color.
Although California currently has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the nation, Ramos says there is still work to do to eliminate disparities.
“The best investment in a newborn’s health is ensuring the health of the mother,” Ramos said. “By leveraging powerful partnerships and pioneering cutting-edge solutions, together we can help California mothers, pregnant people and newborns have a strong start and healthy future.”
Over 80% of maternal deaths are preventable. One of the action plans Start Strong & Beyond is promoting involves a seven-question quiz that can alert a person to the fact they may want to get overall general well-care before they become pregnant.
“Our vision is to put this in the laundromats, put this in the supermarket, wherever people are already before they’ re pregnant, so that they can then start to think, ‘wow, I didn’ t realize,’ and perhaps ‘my current health could maybe not be so healthy if I became pregnant,’” Ramos said. “We want to educate and empower individuals on their reproductive health. So, before pregnancy, during pregnancy, and then most importantly, afterwards.”
Additionally, the media webinar featured testimonials from mothers who experienced complications during their pregnancies and shared what they wish they knew going into their pregnancies.
Dr. Nzinga Graham is a practicing family medical physician working in urgent care in Los Angeles. She is also a mother of three and experienced complications with each of her pregnancies.
“I know that Black women were three and a half times more likely to die but it’s different when it happens to you,” Graham said.
Graham was admitted to the hospital suffering from severe postpartum preeclampsia (high blood pressure and excess protein in urine after childbirth). After the health scare, she was determined to take matters into her own hands going into her second pregnancy. She exercised more, ate healthily and even ran a marathon. Unfortunately, after her second child was born, Graham was admitted to the hospital again with the same symptoms as before.
“Of course, the number one risk factor for any health complication is having had it before, so going into that second pregnancy, I should have known, I should have been aware that this was a real possibility,” Graham said. “I thought I did what I could to prevent it, but unfortunately … it really is our system that contributes to a lot of these health complications for women of color.”
Graham noted that the main takeaway from her story is advocacy, and that speaking up is the most critical thing she could’ve done to get more information and demand the treatment she needed, even when she was told there weren’t any issues.
The Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications is also inviting advocates to pledge their support to the Strong Start & Beyond movement to continue providing lifesaving information and support to at-risk mothers to be.
Edward Henderson is a reporter for California Black Media.
