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March of Dimes CEO, Stacey D. Stewart will be holding a live webinar, "Healthy Moms, Strong Babies," on Thursday, November 18 at 2 p.m. to discuss the report cards and the state of maternal and infant health in the United States.
In our region this year, Massachusetts leads the pack with an overall B, Connecticut and New York rate a B- and New Jersey and Pennsylvania a C+.
Nationally and for the first time in six years, the pre-term birth rate declined ever so slightly from 10.2 percent in 2019 to 10.1 percent in 2020. Nevertheless, disparities between White and Black and American Indian/Alaskan native women and babies remain. In the latter group, babies are twice as likely to die before their first birthday than White babies and its mothers are 60 percent more likely to experience pre-term labor.
The report additionally highlights that more than 1 in 10 women do not receive adequate prenatal care and that infant mortality is almost 1 in 20 while pregnancy-related death for women has more than doubled over the last 30 years.
The webinar panel includes March of Dimes Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr. Zsakeba Henderson, Medical Principal at Cigna HealthCare Total Health & Wellness Dr. Nicole St. Clair, founder of Mama Glow Latham Thomas and Cantata Media's own Ted Yang, author of Table for Five, a Father’s Story of Life, Love and Loss.
You can catch the webinar live at facebook.com/marchofdimes.
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