By LAURA UNGAR AP Science Writer
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — At the site of a race massacre that reduced neighborhoods to ashes a century ago, where murals memorialize a once-thriving “ Black Wall Street,” one African American mother strives to keep others from dying as they try to bring new life into the world.
Black women are more than three times as likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth as white women in Oklahoma, which consistently ranks among the worst states in the nation for maternal mortality.
“Tulsa is suffering,” said Corrina Jackson, who heads up a local version of the federal Healthy Start program, coordinating needed care and helping women through their pregnancies. “We’re talking about lives here.”
Across the nation, programs at all levels of government — federal, state and local — have the same goals to reduce maternal mortality and erase the race gap. None has all the answers, but many are making headway in their communities and paving the way for other places.
Jackson’s project is one of more than 100 funded through Healthy Start, which gave out $105 million nationally in grants this year. Officials call Healthy Start an essential part of the Biden administration’s plan for addressing maternal health.
Other approaches to the crisis include California halving its maternal mortality rate through an organization that shares the best ways to treat common causes of maternal death and New York City expanding access to midwives and doulas two years ago. Several states passed laws this year aiming to improve maternal health, including a sweeping measure in Massachusetts. And last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced more than $568 million in funding to improve maternal health through efforts such as home visiting services and better identifying and preventing pregnancy-related deaths.
Locally and nationally, “we need to really identify the birthing people who are at potentially the greatest risk,” New York…
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