SAVING THE LIVES OF MOMS AND BABIES: - ADDRESSING RACISM AND SOCIOECONOMIC INFLUENCERS

The global pandemic has exacerbated these THE PANDEMIC HAS HIGHLIGHTED, IN SHARP RELIEF, THE BREADTH AND DEPTH OF THE STRUCTURAL INEQUITIES THAT CONSTRAIN OPPORTUNITIES AND INTENSIFY RISKS FOR BLACK, INDIGENOUS, LATINX, ASIAN AMERICAN, AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS, AT AN UNCONSCIONABLE COST OF POORER HEALTH AND SHORTER LIVES. [...] This is why solutions to the maternal and infant health crisis must be rooted in a robust understanding of the multiple, intersecting structural and social factors that drive these avoidable inequities and unnecessary and unconscionable suffering and death – including racism. [...] IT’S TIME FOR IMMEDIATE SOLUTIONS TO ADDRESS SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DRIVERS IMPACTING MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH The pandemic has shown the country that people of color are the backbone of our economy and drive our prosperity. [...] On the contrary, we need new policies and structures to dismantle inequities and affirmatively strengthen the factors that contribute to the health and well-being of mothers and infants, especially those from Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. [...] We identified these topics based on their urgency, the strength of the evidence ††† The lack of reliable and disaggregated data for Latinx and Asian American and Pacific Islander populations obscures maternal mortality and morbidity challenges some of their distinct communities face, such as Puerto Ricans and various groups of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.