Maternal and Child Health Trends in the United States

While the United States has the highest per capita spending on health care in the world, this has not led to optimal outcomes. The maternity care sector, in particular, has many trends that are heading in the wrong direction.

  • U.S. infant mortality rate is worse than over thirty other industrial nations

  • U.S. maternal mortality rate has not improved since 1982 and is steadily creeping upward

  • Rates of premature and low birth weight infants are exceedingly high

  • Declining rates of normal physiologic childbirth are alarmingly common

  • Cesarean section is the number one surgery performed in the United States, 1 in every 3 pregnant women will undergo surgical birth 

  • Health status and perinatal outcomes for women and infants of color are far worse than for their White counterparts

  • Hospital costs are without a doubt the largest sector of health care costs

  • Hospital costs for mother-baby care are considerable and are the highest of all hospital “profit centers”

Midwives As a Key Solution to Alarming Trends

The evidence is mounting that because midwives focus on normal physiologic childbirth and safe, personalized, cost-effective care, they offer a key solution to what ails our broken maternity care system.

Opportunities to support and promote maternal and child health care policies that:

  • Position exemplary maternity care models squarely within the U.S. health care system

  • Showcase evidenced-based choices in childbirth

  • Affect better outcomes for mothers and babies

  • Address disparities in health care status

  • Create greater access to midwives so they can play an integral part in a diverse, high quality, multidisciplinary maternity care workforce.

Information provided by the Midwives Alliance of North America