Chicago’s ‘Black Moms Rising’ Fights Maternal Mortality Crisis

Illinois is working hard to take advantage of the $118 million awarded by the CDC to combat maternal mortality across the country.

The Illinois Maternal Mortality Review Commission is one in all 46 nationwide We are working on combating maternal health crisis, it reported. The state’s efforts include Chicago’s “Black Moms Rising” series on race and culture, which examines problems with motherhood within the black community, with a team of experts focused on collecting data and developing solutions.

Illinois Committee, with a special concentrate on moms of color, is working to implement a direct partnership between CDC and the Illinois Department of Health (IDPH), which is able to receive greater than half 1,000,000 dollars annually for the following five years to support the work their Maternal Mortality Review Committees.

“Committees that can increasingly reach out to each other to learn from each other and actually accelerate their impact,” said David Goodman, chief of the CDC’s maternal mortality prevention team.

The Illinois committee, made up of 25 to 50 experts in the sphere, conducts in-depth analyses of maternal deaths and comes up with an inventory of recommendations. Of the suggestions, “eight of them actually passed and … became law or were enacted,” Goodman said.

Among the recommendations were Medicaid expansion for postpartum support, child tax credits, home visitation and diaper equity programs, all with a special concentrate on moms of color.

“Even if we rule out things like economics and so on, there is a gap between the results when we talk about black women and white women,” Dr. Vohra said.

IDPH says its 2024 budget includes greater than $20 million for maternal health, and it encourages mothers to benefit from available resources.

“The state of Illinois is listening to you,” Dr. Vohra said.