MATERNAL HEALTH

Understanding the maternal mortality issue

The United States has the highest maternal death rate in the developed world.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Detroit’s maternal death rate is three times the national average and pregnant black women are 4.5 times more likely to die than non-Hispanic white women and 44 percent of those pregnancy-related deaths were preventable.

What we’re facing

We’ve come to believe that pregnancy is routine, yet the risk to health can be significant. The State of Michigan reported in their 2020-2023 Mother Infant Health and Equity Plan significant disparities that show up in every facet of maternal and infant health, and that they are rooted in long standing systemic inequities. 

While the state has seen some improvement, reducing its pregnancy-related mortality rate from 17.5 per 100,000 live births in 2011 to 14.1 per 100,000 in 2016, women, infants, and their families continue to face deeply embedded systemic inequity, social biases, and related stressors that are closely associated with adverse health outcomes.

Areas of Progress

Strategically aligned with the most recent 2024-2028 State of Michigan’s maternal and infant health equity plan, Advancing Healthy Births, SEMPQIC has made many strides that is making a difference.

  • Our work on increasing the access to doulas in partnership with our community partners, has uplifted doulas and increased awareness that doulas are an important resource that improves birth outcomes, especially for Black mothers. 

  • SEMPQIC has been working with Michigan Health and Hospital Association to assure accountability of hospitals to improve the quality of their perinatal care through the Michigan Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health program (MIAIM). We serve as the direct contact to the 23 birthing hospitals in Region 10, to assist, encourage and assure that the hospitals participate in MIAIM and commit to reducing maternal morbidity and mortality in their hospitals.

  • Notably, we have trained over 600 participants through our Health Equity and Implicit Bias trainings.

  • Impactful outreach on COVID vaccine alerting moms-to-be with reminders to get their vaccination shots.

    All of these initiatives have the input of our network that includes parents, community-based organizations, health systems, health plans, fathers, physicians, the faith-based community and universities.

Our work in the community

Program Goal/Funders/Funding

SEMPQIC was created to work to reduce the disparity between Black and White adverse maternal, perinatal and infant outcomes, including infant and maternal mortality, by creating a coordinated, equitable and sustainable network for perinatal care based on best practices, evidence based and innovative community solutions that will result in system changes and improved birth outcomes for all babies born in southeast Michigan.