According to a new analysis, the United States continues to have a greater rate of women dying during pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum than any other high-income country, despite recent improvements in the US maternal death rate.
In 2022, the most recent year with available data, there were around 22 maternal fatalities for every 100,000 live births in the United States. That rate was more than twice, and sometimes treble, that of most other high-income countries that year, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Commonwealth Fund, a private charity focused on healthcare concerns. And the rate of maternal fatalities among Black women in the US is significantly higher, at roughly 50 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the latest data.
In the United States, “there are several barriers to getting midwifery care, and other countries just don’t have that”
A new report reveals that half of high-income nations have fewer than 5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, with Norway achieving zero maternal deaths. In contrast, the United States faces a worsening shortage of maternal care professionals, according to Munira Gunja, the report’s lead author and senior researcher at the Commonwealth Fund.
She observed that midwives, who give care to patients from prenatal to postpartum, are in short supply in the United States.
“We have an under-supply of midwives, and midwives are underutilized, whereas in most other countries, midwives greatly outnumber ob-gyns. They’re part of their health care systems. Midwifery care is not integrated enough into our system,” Gunja said.
In the United States, “there are several barriers to getting midwifery care, and other countries just don’t have that. They’re able to make sure that every woman has access to care, whether it be in some cases an ob-gyn and in most cases a midwife,” she said. “In the US, we’re the only country in this analysis without a universal health system. Nearly 8 million women of reproductive age are without health insurance.” In Norway, which has universal health coverage, prenatal care is accessible free of charge, and high-risk pregnancies are effectively identified.
Researchers at the Commonwealth Fund examined maternal mortality statistics from 14 high-income countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the top three countries with the highest maternal death rates are the United States, Chile, and New Zealand. Chile and New Zealand each had approximately 14 deaths per 100,000 live births. The three countries with the lowest maternal death rates were Norway (zero), Switzerland (1 death per 100,000 live births), and Sweden (3 deaths per 100,000 live births).