Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New York City To Pump Millions Into 'Ambitious' Initiative To Cut Back On Racial Disparities In Maternal Deaths
In response to alarming racial disparities, New York City announced a new initiative last week to reduce maternal deaths and complications among women of color. Under the new plan, the city will improve the data collection on maternal deaths and complications, fund implicit bias training for medical staff at private and public hospitals, and launch a public awareness campaign. (Waldman, 7/30)
The state is leading the charge to reverse the nationwide trend: Since 2006, California has cut its rate of women dying in childbirth by more than half. And it's a state whose impact could make a big difference: One in eight infants born in the United States is born there. (Montagne, 7/29)
And in other news —
As fertility rates fall nationwide, Connecticut continues to rank among the lowest in the country — a trend doctors attribute to women here delaying childbearing. In 2016, the most recent year for which state-level data is available, Connecticut had 53.4 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, compared with a national average of 62 per 1,000 women, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Rosner, 7/29)
