Black Maternal Mortality

Maternal mortality rates in the U.S. are higher than several developing nations, and the numbers are four times worse for Black mothers who are pregnant, delivering, or several months post-partum. This is a public health emergency. Extensive research is urgently needed, distinct from the research given to maternal care writ large, to determine the tools needed in U.S. healthcare institutions to provide specific treatment plans and care for Black mothers.

Focus areas

Meet the team

shaunesse' jacobs smiles in front of the BU School of Theology sign — shaunesse’ jacobs

Molly Wilde stands in front of a brick wall in the sun — shaunesse’ jacobs

Approach

The Black Maternal Mortality Project (BMM) has several layers. The foundation is a comprehensive review of research literature on Black maternal mortality in the U.S., focusing on the New England area when studies permit. Bringing to light the quantitative and qualitative data related to Black child-bearing women, apart from maternal mortality in general, informs the other layers of BMM.

The second layer is data collection and analysis. Following the existing model of the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, BMM analyzes de-identified medical records of deaths of women who received treatment in a Boston-area hospital while pregnant, during childbirth, or several months after delivery. Analyzing the narratives of the specific medical practices performed throughout pregnancy and during delivery will allow us to analyze effectiveness of care, to identify medical interventions that varied across races, and to evaluate specificity in note-taking in order to determine differences in care between Black identifying women and non-Black identifying women. This involves a mixed-methods approach, moving from qualitative review to quantitative statistical analysis, ultimately identifying opportunities for better health system design and implementation for Black-identifying women that could be applied across Boston, Massachusetts and the wider New England region.

The third layer is a computational policy simulation calibrated to both the data BMM analyzes from hospital records and the statistical data from New England more broadly. This policy simulation will allow us to assess what factors make the largest difference in Black maternal care outcomes. This will indicate where policy efforts should focus interventions. The simulation will also allow us to evaluate the likely effect of such interventions.

Impact

By leveraging prior research, new data collection, systematic analysis, and computational policy simulation, BMM aims not only to draw attention to the public-health crisis reflected in Black maternal mortality rates in the U.S., but to suggest practical ways to mitigate the problem. The project will communicate findings both through academic publications and through a stakeholder network that we will build to support sustainable change in outcomes.

Latest updates

Black Maternal Mortality Dataset Sources

Q&A with shaunesse’ jacobs

Publications

jacobs, shaunesse’ a. “Details Matter When Tackling the Public-Health Crisis of Maternal Mortality,” Boston University Institute for Health System Innovation & Policy, 2020.

External Resources

“Birth Equity Resources,” California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative: https://www.cmqcc.org/qi-initiatives/birth-equity/resources

“Structural Competency Meets Structural Racism: Race, Politics, and the Structure of Medical Knowledge,” Virtual Mentor: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25216304/

“Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Severe Maternal Morbidity Prevalence and Trends,” Ann Epidemiol: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30928320/

“Obstetric Racism: The Racial Politics of Pregnancy, Labor, and Birthing,” Med Anthropol: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30521376/

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Wildman

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Wesley Wildman
Executive Director

Teehan

After two (intense) days with the people at CMAC, going through the process of translating my hypothesis about religion and empathy into the language of computer modeling, it all began to make sense … Because of this method, we will actually be able to bring some data into a debate that would otherwise remain largely in speculation … It forced me to formulate my ideas in such precise and concrete terms (so they could be coded for) that I came away with a better understanding of my own theory.

John Teehan, Ph.D.
Hofstra University

Bacon

CMAC is a great environment when you are in a transitional stage of your early career and deciding what type of career path to pursue. There is such a wide variety of projects going on at one time, and even if you are assigned to primarily work on just one, there is frequently the opportunity to contribute to multiple projects. And in doing so, you get to use your skillset in areas outside your area of expertise, and also expand your skillset within your main area with an interdisciplinary team.

Rachel Bacon
Postdoctoral Fellow

Gore

Each member of the team was capable of synthesizing that multi-disciplinary knowledge into a single response to a complex problem statement. The realization was humbling and reshaped my view of what interdisciplinary work can be and how I pursue it.

Ross Gore, Ph.D.
Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center