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This week, the nation pauses to recognize, reflect upon, and respond to a crisis centuries in the making: The fact that the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, driven by the sad and unacceptable mortality rates among Black mothers, who are 2.5 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women.
Black Maternal Health Week, held annually in the middle of National Minority Health Month, presents a notable opportunity to not only take stock of where California sits in the efforts to reduce maternal health disparities, but also to listen and learn from the people who are suffering, including the most vulnerable: Black infants in the United States die at more than twice the rate of white infants.