Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health: Current Status and Efforts to Address Them

Summary Stark racial disparities in maternal and infant health in the U.S. have persisted for decades despite continued advancements in medical care. The disparate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for people of color increased attention to health disparities, including the longstanding inequities in maternal and infant health. Additionally, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, increased barriers to abortion and may widen the existing disparities in maternal health. Given these factors, there recently has been increased attention to improving maternal and infant health and reducing disparities in these areas. This brief provides an overview of racial disparities for selected measures of maternal and infant health, discusses the factors that drive these disparities, and provides an overview of recent efforts to address them. It is based on KFF analysis of publicly available data from CDC WONDER online database, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) National Vital Statistics Reports, and the CDC Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System. While this brief focuses on racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and infant health, wide disparities also exist across other dimensions, including income, education, age, and other characteristics. For example, there is significant variation in some of these measures across states and disparities between rural and...