Overview:
Thousands of Black lives and billions of dollars could be saved if the U.S. was no longer one of the highest maternal-mortality rates among high-income nations.
They are well-known facts: the United States has some of the worst maternal and infant mortality rates in the industrialized world, and Black women are two to four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.
Yet a new report finds that a few key changes to improve Black maternal and newborn health would not only save the lives of more than 3,100 Black mothers and 35,000 Black infants, but also inject an astounding $25 billion into the economy and save $385 million in healthcare costs.
If the changes were implemented today, according to the report from the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility, the financial dividends could be seen as early as 2040.
“I’ve always said health is wealth. This report brings dollar signs to the crisis,” says Dr. Faith Ohuoba, OB-GYN Department Chair and Specialty Medical Director at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston.
“The public sometimes becomes numb to the daunting statistics or may not readily relate to the stories behind the statistics regarding black maternal health,” she says. “[But] these figures aren’t just numbers—they represent lives saved, communities stabilized, and an economy strengthened by investing in Black maternal well-being.”
The Persistent Crisis of Black Maternal and Infant Deaths
Almost a decade ago, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable. Yet as recently as 2023 — while all other demographic groups saw improvements in maternal death rates after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic subsided — Black women were the only racial group whose maternal death rate increased.
Dr. Amanda P. Williams, interim medical director for the nonprofit March of Dimes, called the situation “unacceptable.”
“The maternal mortality rate for Black moms has returned to near pre-pandemic levels, with the gap between them and white moms widening from 2.5 times in 2019 to 3.5 times in 2023,” she says. The data “confirms the urgent need for systemic changes to eliminate these inequities in maternal healthcare.”
And the peril doesn’t stop after the baby arrives.
Black infants in the U.S. are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday compared to infants from most other demographic groups. McKinsey’s analysis shows that closing the Black infant mortality gap could save the lives of 2,885 babies this year alone.
Steps Toward a Solution
According to the McKinsey report, reversing the disproportionately high rate of Black maternal mortality must begin with accurately measuring the extent of the problem since “health systems cannot improve what they do not measure.” That alone, however, is a significant challenge.
As recently as 2019, roughly 15 percent of reported maternal deaths were misclassified on several states’ death certificates, according to the CDC. And the McKinsey report notes that many hospitals and public health systems still keep separate records for mothers and newborns, making it hard to track health outcomes.
The McKinsey report also recommends training healthcare providers in culturally competent, respectful care rooted in Black women’s lived experience and addressing chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes. The report also calls for eliminating maternal care deserts or expanding access to midwives, doulas, and mental health professionals.
There’s also evidence that pharmaceutical companies aren’t producing medications for maternal and infant health as they do for other health issues. That needs to change, according to the report.
Adjusting the medical system to more closely address the needs of Black women could produce the $25 billion economic boon by improving Black women’s health and workforce participation over their lifetimes. The annual healthcare cost savings would come by way of $215 million from reducing unnecessary C-sections among Black women, and $170 million from improved maternal morbidity outcomes.
Still, some public health experts point out that Black maternal mortality is rooted in systemic racism. So the solution will need to change the system. Closing the Black maternal health gap, they say, will require better data, equitable care, and steadily increasing investment.
“Structural racism does not show up in the birthing experience as one bad actor — it’s not a nurse or an OB who is just a racist person,” Dr. Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, professor of Black maternal health and founder of the Center of Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice at Tufts University School of Medicine, said in a 2024 interview with STAT news.
“It’s the entire health care system that has policies, procedures that are enacted and enforced, really to exacerbate racism,” she said.