Harris Co. leads nation in Black maternal death rates, report shows

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — While Houston is home to the largest medical complex in the world, data in a recent report on maternal and infant health published by the Harris County Public Health indicates the region has led the country in Black maternal death rates since 2016. The report lists a number of factors that may contribute to disproportionately poor health outcomes for Black mothers and their children. Black women are at greater risk for conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart problems, which are known to complicate pregnancy. The discrepancies are partially attributed to historical inequities such as lack of access to nutritious food. The report also found that Black women who graduated college are 60 times more likely to die during childbirth than white and Hispanic women without high school diplomas. In 2022, Dionna Jacobs lost her second son, Hendrix, during childbirth. She told ABC13 that when she and her partner arrived at the hospital, she was “screaming to the top of (her) lungs.” She said she knew something was wrong, explaining that the pain was not comparable to what she experienced delivering her first child. “(Staff) would be like ‘Oh, it’s probably just your first baby....